The Eifel is a low mountain range in Western Germany and Eastern Belgium, only an hour away from our new home in beautiful Bonn. The LMU Film Students, in the company of the lovely LMU Engineers, took a bus ride out to the area. We would be staying in the town of Monreal for 3 days, the other students accompanying us only for a day visit to the nearby Gregorian mass held in Maria Laach’s Parish (Over 1000 years of amazing tradition in a valley created by an ancient volcano explosion).
After a beautiful mass and a visit to the gift shop (The Monks have a full retail/gift shop) we headed over to Monreal. The town itself is very quaint, less then six square miles in size with a population of less then a thousand. And it’s beautiful. It’s amazingly green, only broken by the tall white windmills in the distance and the quiet venerable castle overlooking the town.
Our main location was a large inn just on the outskirts of town. A young, kindly couple took care of us, making us food and walking us through the delicate steps of cheese tasting (Allgau for the win!). The six men of our program stayed with an amazingly welcoming wife and husband just down the street in a second story flat (wonderful bonding time) and the girls were across the street in their own house.
The next three days were spent doing a variety of activities, most of all just taking in the world around us. We had a few small projects and lessons, one of which was shooting a variety of nature shots to portray a specific emotion. In my own personal experience, with the company of the infamous Patrick Murphy, the two of us wandered around the village and farmlands, tracking deer and shooting lone shoes to convey the emotion of loneliness. We were guided by the lessons of famed Serbian film director Slobodan Sijan.
When we weren’t learning or eating wonderful food (And the desserts!), we trekked many hikes up to the beautiful castle overlooking the town. Up the keep you could go, rolling hills and green valleys stretching into the distance. We even went on an old-fashioned torch hike at night (with much singing of classic 80’s and 90’s songs) and the next morning had a very early hike with our constant trusty guide, Rainer. One of the most amazing ways to start the day.
A celebrity appearance was even made by the most beautiful dog in the Rhineland, Cosmo, whose proud owner is our very own Olaf, our wonderful program director.
The Eifel is a wonderful place. There’s something about looking up into that beautiful sky at night to see a thousand hovering stars twinkle over the waves of green, of feeling that crisp morning breeze blow past as we hike through streams of sunlight and to look at the generous (chicken-filled) nature.
