The story of the Fusion wristband: This wristband is a memoir of Fusion 2013. It wasn't a good year for me, as I was in the middle of an unsatisfying internship, searching for a "real" job, and struggling to adjust to the German lifestyle after a long stay abroad in Asia. I had studied in Sri Lanka for six months and, after graduating, did an internship there for a few months. Life in this other world had changed me, but as soon as I set foot on German soil, time turned back and everything was "as usual" – unspectacular, cold, and not a beach anywhere in sight, no tuk-tuks, and no palm trees. There was one ray of hope, though: the friends I had made abroad. One of them: Lulu. When I hear Lulu's voice or see her broad grin beaming at me, I'm back. Then suddenly I'm standing at the beach bar again with a gin and tonic in my hand, and my worries are gone. Then I feel the sand between my toes again and hear the sound of the sea. With Lulu, everything is as light as a feather; with her, I am the other me again. The non-German me.
In the summer of 2013, Lulu whisked me away from my boring daily routine and worries about the future. She spontaneously took me to Fusion without a ticket. She took care of my wristband on the spot, we slept in the seats of her little Peugeot, and I experienced Fusion for the first time in my life. Anyone who has ever been to this festival knows what it's like to be there for the first time. It's just like being abroad in a distant country: completely immersed in another world. Thanks to Lulu, I was able to escape the dreary reality, let go, and surrender to the music, the lights, and the lovingly constructed dreamscapes.
No matter how long we haven't had contact, Lulu and I have experienced all of this together, experiences as formative as the first day of school.
A festival is, above all, a celebration of friendship. Here, you experience things that bring you even closer together, you develop new friendships, and feel a connection with everyone else wearing a wristband. I remember that I was so drawn to that weekend that I wore the wristband forever. I wanted to keep the memory alive for as long as possible. It was also always nice to bump into another Fusion wristband wearer on the subway and smile at each other—almost as if you knew each other.
