All Good Things...

"It's that time of year" can mean a lot of different things: holiday celebrations, first snowfalls, final exams, and even goodbyes.  I guess you could call this weekend, my last in Germany (!), the beginning of the end.

Wednesday, after Star Trek with my tandem partner, was my last visit to Mäxx to watch Champions League soccer with friends.  Thursday was the last day of classes, and so we finished the Track II semester with a movie and home-baked snacks.  Friday, after my final exam for Composition II, I ate my last meal at the Mensa and turned in my card there.  I also received my final, graded review of my paper on German Holocaust Literature; it was really refreshing to see all my work on it pay off.

Photo Credit: Josh Lacey

Saturday morning, I was able to sleep in before I started cleaning up my room and packing up some of my textbooks, notes, and other papers.  In the afternoon, I went ice skating in Adendorf ("suburb" of Lüneburg to the north) with some friends.  The indoor rink, home to a small local hockey club, was open for skating, so we took advantage of both group and student discounts.  It had been a while since I'd been on ice skates, but everything went really smoothly, and everyone had a lot of fun.  The evening ended with Krosse Bratkartoffeln at Krone for dinner, as the farewell meal for one of my friends who left today.

Today was my last Sunday worshiping at St. Thomas in Lüneburg.  After the service, I was once more invited to spend the middle of the day with the Wilkens family.  This time, Herr and Frau Wilkens and I were joined by their daughter and her boyfriend for conversation, coffee (or tea), and a delicious meal.  Venison was accompanied by soup, brussel sprouts, green beans, red cabbage, potato dumplings, and peaches with cranberries.  Dessert was cherry yogurt, then plum cake and stollen (traditional German Christmas bread) a little while later.  I enjoyed meeting and talking with the younger couple, and spending a little more time with those who had helped me feel very welcome at church.

After skyping with my family and writing this post, it's off to bed for me.  I have one last final tomorrow afternoon, German Literature, and the studying part of this semester is officially over.  I don't know where the time went, but I've loved every minute that's flown by!