Youth Camp and Coming home!

At the high ropes course the second week

Kasia and I in the camp house

I left Tübingen for (almost) the last time to head down to southern Germany and a little town called Oy, just a couple kilometers from Neuschwanstein castle, to spend the rest of my time abroad. Here I was working at a summer camp for German kiddies to learn and practice speaking english with some native Americans like myself. Although I was just a volunteer, I did quite a lot of work, like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping for forty people, and planning daily activities with the kids.

Both sessions were a week long, so the first group of 30 kids was switched out with another 30 after a week. The first week was really great and the kids were pretty angelic looking back. One of the teachers that Kasia and I shared a room with liked to create drama, but luckily she was just there the first week and was pretty much the biggest problem we had. The second week wasn't quite as blissful because the children were everything, but angelic. After the first night of chaos, Kasia and I retreated to the Seehaus on just the second day for more than a couple Zotlers. Since we were used to such friendly, positive, and kind kids, it was pretty hard to switch to the cliquey, mean, and bullying dynamic that happened the second week. The first week was fun, but by the time we were done with the second week, we were all pretty ready to be back.

I spent that last Friday night and Saturday at the hostel in Tübingen with Kasia, and hung out with the other camp counselors since all of my friends had already headed home. It was pretty weird to be back in Tübingen without everyone I usually hung out with there, and kind of depressing. But since it was only for 48 hours, it wasn't too terrible. Leaving was definitely a little surreal when the time finally came, since I was leaving the home I had known for many months. It made me happy to head home and see everyone, but also sad thinking I might not be back to this place for a very long time. I know I will be back to Germany sometime soon and will hopefully keep up all the German that I learned during my time there.

The kids and us counselors after the first week, with the house in the back

Leaving home again

I ended up spending my last week in Tübingen mostly not in Tübingen, because there was suddenly so many things that seemed more important than going to my last classes. The Grafs picked me up on Sunday, the day after the Holifest in Tü, and I went to stay with them until Tuesday. Then I took the train to Würzburg to visit Krissi and her family for a last time as well. On Thursday I headed back to Tü and finished up university business, packed and moved out of my room, and hung out with my friends there until Saturday morning when I headed to the summer camp.

At the Holifest

It was really strange to finally leave Tübingen because even though I knew it was coming and had been there since April, it seemed like it happened really fast and sudden. Saying goodbye to my host families and friends was really hard and strange because I really don’t know when I’m going to see them again, or if I’ll ever see them again, now that we’re so far away. It was so cute and sad when my younger host sister, Nele, asked me when I was going to visit again, because even if I see them again in a couple years, that will feel like a much longer time for her than it would for me. There were definitely tears shed when hugging everyone goodbye and just knowing how far around the world we were about to be from each other. The worst was when I was leaving the Abschiedsparty at Kuckuck and had to say goodbye to my friend Heloise and was crying and sad, then proceeded to cut my foot on a broken cocktail glass and bleed for a long while until it stopped…

At one of the University buildings

As excited as I was getting to go home, finally leaving was pretty sad and I felt like I could have stayed longer. After being around my friends in Tübingen since April, we had gotten really close and I didn’t want to leave what we had there. I am so excited to see Gus and my family and Domino again when I get home, and then to move back to Ann Arbor in my new house, but goodbyes are never easy.