Bratwurst and Sauerkraut: The Last Entry

This summer has been a blast, and it has come all too quickly to an end. Well... the Germany part of it anyway. I met some really awesome people and got to know another person so much better than I did over the year. Have I become more cultured? I suppose yes if you measure culture-ness in the number of new museums and churches visited. But in all honesty, people from all over the world are essentially very similar in terms of what they joke about and how they interact with one another. Or perhaps this might be limited to the western part of the hemisphere. I could still talk to other kids about movies, books, and pop culture, and I found that sarcasm spans all languages. I will of course miss Germany and all the amazing bakeries and cheap grocery stores, but what I will miss more is perhaps the people. Strangely, there is a sense of loss...or maybe loss is the wrong word since you can't lose something you never had...but a sense of a what if. What if I knew German fluently or what if I were staying here longer....I wonder if I would have been able to become closer to the people I am now leaving behind.

It is perhaps cyclic that I am ending this blog with these questions, since my first post was about saying goodbye to the seniors. I hate all sorts of good-byes. It makes me morose and ramble-y.

Anyway.

So here are pics from the London Trip, the Wine Tasting Escapade, and My Last Day in Lab. Thank you for reading and see you when I see you.

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London Trip

This was perhaps the trip I was looking forward to the most. Whether this is due to the fact that people here spoke English is highly likely. Oh well. It was still adventurous :)

London eye +Big Ben

Getting ticks to see Phantom of the Opera!

At Portabello Road! Such cool booths.

Chilling on a double decker bus!

Oh Harry

Haha, madly tearing down the street to keep up with these mad marchers.

Umbrellas :) Katherine's by far the best signaller for lost children.

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Wine Tasting

On Friday, the entire lab went to Johanna's family's vineyard to do some serious culturing: wine tasting. Wine makes my head hurt, but in the name of being European, Monica (with the lowest tolerance of anyone I have ever heard of) had a few sips. The vineyard was gorgeous and the cheese and bread were delicious. And apparently the wine is super good too (the experts in wine told us so). So regardless of the headache after, the good company and lazy summer day was beautiful and one of the highlights of this summer.

The host :)

Bubbly!

Mad cool cellar!

Vineyard!

Chillin at the Schnieder's cabin-house in the middle of their field! Best view on the hill!

Bella with her fancy camera--always taking pics!

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Last Day of Lab

So today was my last day at lab, and I was both happy to stop work and head home but also a little sad about leaving as well. Everything in my life is starting to feel transient. Summers are only a few short months and often enough, the memories and relationships formed during that period will remain simply that--nothing more. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it to try get to know another person if you know you're only going to part ways from them in the near future. But then again, maybe that's all the more reason to.

In any case. I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful people in Freiburg, and have them to thank for a great and memorable summer.