Communitas- Christine Ellis

Communitas is something I’ve experienced very rarely but very intensely. When I went to Europe a few years ago, I went to experience Europe in all its glory. I did, but I also experienced something…dare I say…better. I met five of the most interesting, amazing people. In the short time that we were together, we bonded as family. I felt a closeness that I’ve always searched for but find so seldom. There was no inhibitions or barriers between the six of us, only a connection that is still holding up after three years. We experienced the dizzying highs of Vienna, Hungary, and Prague. We took in the beauty, the history, and the languages like little kids given free range of an amusement park. The people who ran the program we were in also bonded us in hatred of them. Through the nineteen hour days we continuously smiled and kept each other laughing. For most of the time, we would be in very professional, uncomfortable clothing that chafed in the 100 degree heat of Europe in July. We didn’t care. We were so overcome by the gorgeous views and the fact that we were together. Over six hour bus rides, we would talk about everything from politics to music to sex. There was absolutely no fear in anyone about what anyone thought of us. We bonded through wonder and hardship, with nothing in common except what we were experiencing. This to me is the zenith of true communitas and of being alive.