Saying Goodbye to Bad Laasphe

At the beginning of this month, we could all hardly wait for language camp to be over so we could meet our host families. However, I can definitely say these feelings had drastically changed by the end of camp. Yes, we were all still so excited to meet our host families, but on the other hand, we had created a home at Schloss Wittgenstein and become a family. In some ways, we were all dreading the day we would have to say goodbye to each other.

The last few days here were spent taking many group photos, learning as much last minute German as possible, and simply enjoying each other’s company. We had a big talent show at the end of camp, so everybody was busy preparing for that as well. My friends and I attempted to put together a dance to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, which ended up being really fun and just a tad embarrassing.

On our last night in Bad Laasphe, we all stayed up pretty late talking and joking around with each other. It was hard to comprehend the fact that in just 24 hours, we would all be split up. Our perfect little American bubble would finally be broken. This was all very hard to think about, but luckily our excitement to meet our host families and go to our new towns masked most of our worries.

Saturday morning (our last day) was very busy for everybody. All of us were trying to clean our rooms, finish packing, and say goodbye to the people leaving on trains. Some of us had our host families picking us up in Bad Laasphe while others took trains to their new towns. Because my host family wanted to pick me up, I was able to say goodbye to everybody that left on trains. I can honestly tell you there were many tears. We all had become so close in such a short amount of time that it was difficult to think about what it would be like to wake up in our new homes without 49 of our closest friends surrounding us.

Language camp was honestly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The support system we built for each other over the past month is one that could never be matched. It’s nice to know that even when we’re all spread across Germany, we will be there for each other no matter what.