MUDEC Farewells

It’s our last week in the chateau (some people today is the last day!) and I have a sense of foreboding mixed with excitement, as our eagerness to see our families, friends, Starbucks, and car keys is thwarted by the nostalgia of how great our semester has been. I cannot believe how fast everything has gone. It was only yesterday that I was stuck in blizzarding London, and here I am in the sun of Differndage saying goodbye to my 129 new friends. How do you sum up everything from this experience in one blog entry?

I guess there’s just the things I am going to miss:
1. Drinking beer out of a boot.
2. Asking people where they are going for the weekend, and hearing things from Paris to Turkey to Ireland. And it being completely acceptable.
3. Going to high school. Aka, our chateau, complete with the lockers, a common room, and a lunch hour and cafeteria. Not to mention the amazing, small world group of friends.
4. Packing my stupid hiking backpack every weekend and attempting to see if it’ll fit in Ryanair storage bins.
5. Drinking our way to cities and sleeping our way home.
6. Going to places I am learning about in history class.
7. Skype. JOKE. Can’t wait to see everyone’s faces for real!
8. Those little old delinquents that we’ve grown so fond of on the playground.
9. Acting like the Euro is monopoly money. (And believing it)
10. Those amazing places I have been to.
11. The people. Honestly, I can’t believe how many amazing people I have met.
12. Going to school in a castle.
13. Pretending to be at Hogwarts. Every day.
14. Being about two months behind on the popular music scene.
15. Bofferding.
16. Getting a café et croissant in the morning.
17. The word Moien.
18. From ash clouds to Polish presidents, I really feel like I’ve been where the news is, and little, old Oxford won’t seem the same.
19. Taking 10,000 photos a week. And uploading them all to Facebook and CVS.
20. Being in EUROPE and getting to see it up close and personal

Honestly, this list could go on and on and on. I just can’t believe it’s ending. I know everyone’s been caught up in this whole idea of making it last and remembering every detail. But, it was the best time of my life, and I will always remember that.

Things that dominated our last week at MUDEC included the school-sponsored “prom.” A final gala, the evening included a cruise down a river before being bussed to a restaurant for awards and dinner and a grand finale of a dance floor and bar. The entire program decked ourselves out in our top-notch clothing, actually did our hair and make-up, and headed to our favorite park to enjoy a few glasses of wine and some prom-themed photos. The night was everything a prom should be… wayyyyy too much fun! I had such a blast with everyone and felt a tad nostalgic for the high school days of old as I relished in the company of the 120 or so students I have become incredibly close with and the teachers who know us all by name. We all danced our booties off, laughed at inside jokes, and relished in our last days of Europe.

Another highlight included a Saturday Fun Day of Beer Olympics. Students divided themselves into teams of four, picked a country, decked themselves out in costume, and got ready to compete in the ultimate challenges. Teams included Vatican City (myself, dressed as a nun), Somalia (dressed as pirates), Italy (mustaches and flags and jerseys) and the Confederacy (they were actually able to find Confederate flags with monster trucks on them.) Each team made up chants, our’s: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the power of Christ compels you! The Confederacy’s: I take my wife and hit her, in the South we’re still bitter. As you can imagine, not the most serious chants. Overall, everyone enjoyed the beautiful Luxembourg spring weather and our last sips of beloved Bofferding.

Finals dominated the last few days, as did packing. Neither overly exciting. Kate and I were upset on our last day to have a major falling out with our host mom. It was unfortunate to have such sour relations with someone we had lived with for so long, but it seemed that our differences were irreconcilable. I know that both of us were glad to quit her house and hope to never hear from her again. I do wish that my amazing experience in Luxembourg had been rounded out by a wonderful experience with a host family, but I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it to.

After packing and saying tearful goodbyes to our classmates, people made there way to all parts of the globe, from Germany to Chicago, France, Spain, China, Ohio, New York, and for me and 13 friends…. GREECE.