Good Times and Goodbyes

This post covers Monday 2/22 to Wednesday 2/25

So these three days were the last days of the February session at the Goethe-Institut. Because almost all of my American friends were headed to Vienna on Thursday and my South American friends were all headed home, we knew these last three days had to be filled with fun. Monday night we made some turkey and veggies for dinner and then headed out to Stammtisch. It was, of course, fun, and we stayed out longer than we normally do. We were probably there until 11:30 or 12, debating if we should go to Barfüßer, the dance club. We ended up not going because we knew we would be there at some point later in the week. It was definitely a good night and a great last Stammtisch with all of us together.

Tuesday night a few of us made some delicious spaghetti and prepared for the Goethe Goodbye Party. Why the school would decide to throw a school-sponsored party the night before the last day of classes is beyond me, but we weren’t complaining. We headed to the Goethe-Pub for our last Goethe Party together and we all had an absolute blast hanging out and dancing the night away.

So yes, the next morning was the last day of class. After the classes, we had a short closing session that was fun to sit through. We saw pictures of the events we did during the month and had presentations for a few people. Then we all feasted on chicken—yeah they served us a whole half of a chicken, bones and all for lunch. It was delicious, but it became even more apparent who the Americans were because we all ate with our hands while everyone else used a fork and knife. Oops.

Wednesday night was, as to be expected, awesome. A group of us Americans went out to the amazing Chinese place so they could enjoy it for their last time. After laughing over random stuff at dinner, we all headed back to the Wohnheim to start our own goodbye party. All of us had an awesome time hanging out, (drinking—if I even needed to say that), singing, dancing, and taking pictures with everyone. After living it up in the Wohnheim, we all headed to Barfüßer, the dance club for a last night party together. We first tried to get in there around midnight, but the cover charge was there until 12:30…so we headed to Olli’s to get another beer and chill for 30 minutes. We headed into Barfüßer around 12:45 and danced like the crazy foreigners that we were. There were a surprising number of people in the place for a Wednesday night, so we had soon coaxed several groups of Germans to come join us on the floor. It was an awesome time and a great way to say bye to everyone. As I decided to leave (around 2:30…and I was the first to leave), it took about 30 minutes to give hugs and say (more like yell) goodbyes over the music. All of the Brazilians insisted I come visit Brazil at some point, so right now I’m going to aim for Brazil in 2014 because it is hosting the World Cup then. Also my friends that were going to Vienna said I was welcome anytime in their new city and that they were looking forward to me visiting. It was a bittersweet goodbye. I had a blast with everyone, but I didn’t know when, if ever, I would see some of these awesome people again. I went home and fell asleep that night both happy that the month had been so awesome and sad that it ended to so quickly. I will always treasure that February in Schwäbisch Hall.