A Parting Glass

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It's officially our last day at the castle! Tomorrow, we leave for London for a couple days, then on the 19th, we depart from Heathrow to Boston. Wow.

I'm not going to make this a melodramatic entry, I promise. I just want to say thank you to everyone who was so supportive of my decision to study abroad, and thanks for missing me (I think). There have been so many things that have happened, changes that have occurred, friendships that have been made...unreal. This was the first semester when I really felt I was experiencing what college was all about, and I found that "family away from family" that I'd been looking for.

So, as a little closing note, I compiled a list of my favorite things that have happened over here. Some of which you may have already read about, and other things maybe not. No particular order.

1. FORT- Alysia, Kelsey, and I built a blanket fort in our room and kept it up for four days. We did our homework in it, and watched movies under it. Best idea ever.

2. NARNIA- A little area just off the castle grounds that we're technically not supposed to be on. It's this beautiful place with twisted trees and sunlight. A popular place for picnics.

3. DEVIL SWANS- OK, so we have these swans that live in the moat. They are jet black, and they have red beaks. When they squawk, it sounds like a sonic boom. Really scary.

4. THE PIANO IN SOPHIE'S- this really made me feel like I was at home. We have a lounge in the main castle (where we lived) that was home to a biiiiiig brown piano. At any given point during the day, one of the castle's talented musical people would get on that thing and pound away. We could always identify, from the style of playing, who was on the piano.

5. PARIS- every inch of it.

6. SOPHIE THE GHOST- The "rumored" ghost of a girl haunts our side of the main castle. Nobody has officially seen her, but some weird noises that came from nowhere, in and outside our room, begged us to question if she's real.

7. THE DUNES- Amazing. On Saturday, the entire castle trekked out to this clearing in the woods for a bonfire.. It's an area that's most likely in Germany (no one knows), and is just miles and miles of hard sand dunes surrounded by trees. We had a huge bonfire going, and everyone was feelin' the love for each other. Unforgettable.

8. AMERICAN NIGHT- once a week, this little bar down the street for us opened its doors from 10PM-2AM and we'd all go down, listen to music, dance on tables, and stay away from the weird dutch boys with too much hair gel. A popular song on that night was "Don't Stop Believin'".

9. SMITS BAKERII- The bakery down the street from the castle. The most delicious food and pie. And really sweet employees!!

10. SOUP IN ARCEN/SCROOGE FEST- The last day of finals, Kelsey, Gabe, Monty, Alysia and I went out to get a bowl of soup in Arcen, a little town about 10 minutes away from Well. When we got there, we found that the town was having its first annual Scrooge Fest. Apparently, all people who live there dress up in their best Dicken's attire and set up little booths along the streets. They go all out. There were men herding geese, children looking hungrily into the windows of restaurants, and little fires placed strategically along the street so people could warm their hands. Weird/awesome.

11. TREE DECORATING/BEATLES NIGHT- The lot of us sitting in the VB decorating our paper Christmas tree with stickers. Alysia's mom baked us cookies and we passed them around. Audrey and Noel joined us, and Noel brought his iPod, therefore introducing us all to LOVE, the Cirque Du Soleil show featuring Beatles music. Just all of us sitting in a circle, eating cookies, and singing the Beatles.

12. MY ROOMMATES- I couldn't have asked for a better couple of gals. We still aren't sick of each other, and continue to make each other laugh.

13. HOW PEOPLE NAME THEIR SMOKING IMPLEMENTS- It's really funny actually. There's Sadie, and Marley, and Alice, and Peter Parker...weird.

14. GERMAN PRETZELS- Yum.

15. GETTING BACK TO THE CASTLE AFTER LENGTHY TRAVEL AWAY FROM IT- It was our home.

Those are a few favorites, but if you come around to the house at any given point, I'm sure that I'll have a lot more stories to share with you 😊

I'm going to go now, cuz I have to get ready for our farewell events. Thanks to everyone who read this blog, put up with the long entries, and wrote me follow-up emails asking me questions about my travels. I don't think any of us will EVER forget this experience. It's kind of cool that one day I'll be able to tell my grandchildren that I used to live in a castle.

Love you, and see you soon.

Theresa

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Comments

[Eric]

So long fair traveller
That was a touching retrospective. Spending time in Europe makes an amazing deep difference in your life, and no one comes back the same as they left. It helps if you're flat broke believe it or not. Thanks a million for including all of us back here in the New World. The details and descriptions were as best as can be. Who could expect so much from a working student! Amazing. See you soon! So many stories! And photos! May the lord on high grant you a safe, convenient flight back home (COZY HOME!) with nigh a screaming baby. Oh and the crackhead should be out of your room by 7:30, leaving an hour for the Hazmat Team to disinfect and put up Christmas decorations.