Day 23

Wednesday morning was like any other, but everyone was really excited that it was the last day of class. In class I gave my presentation on throwing events, how one competes in the events, and even included Youtube examples from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was well received.

After my presentation came the presentation of a Turkish woman named Gamsa. Her presentation was about a traditional Turkish dancing group called the Fire of Anatolia. It was an interesting presentation to say the least.

After Gamsa came Remi from Benin. He talked about his home in Southern Benin and what normal life was like in Benin. It was so interesting to hear what his life was like in Benin. He talked about the percentages of religions the highest being Voodoo, with Christianity in the middle, and the lowest being Islam. He said that in Afrika he would never need to carry a passport because he had all of the identification he needed via the scars on his face. When he was 11 his father had given him his markings and although at the time he had been against it, he was now very proud of his identity. It was so interesting to learn about the perspective from someone so clearly not like me. It was really eye-opening.

After the second break, instead of going to class, everyone headed to the meeting room where we were on the day of arrival. We had our farewell meeting there. There was a woman who had decided that she wanted to sing for the group. She first sang a song about the victims of the earthquake in Japan and then changed things up by singing a heavy metal song. To say that I was out of my comfort zone on that one would be an understatement.

After the final farewells, we all headed to the cafeteria. We had a good lunch of some sort of Hawaiian stir fry with pineapple, chicken, and rice. After lunch I headed back to the dorms and took a nap on and off for about an hour and a half, because I had to check on my laundry.

Once the laundry was done, I started packing. I actually got all of my clothes packed in one fell swoop. Though it took a bit, the Carpenters kept me moving along. While I was packing Ana Paula came to my room to tell me that there was going to be a party at 8:00 in the kitchen. She asked me to come, so I told her that I would once that time rolled around.

At some point Stephen asked me if I wanted to go along with Paithan, Andy, Jesse, and him to have our last Döner-kebab in Schwäbisch Hall. I went with them and none of us regretted our decision. It was all so good and we had such a great time talking about the next days trip to Vienna.

Once we got back to the dorms, everyone found their way to the kitchen where the Brazilians were starting up the party. I talked with Marion (from UofM) for about 30 minutes before she had to go to catch her bus. Our topics ranged from future jobs to Detroit and the Porcupine Mountains. All in all it was a good conversation.

We had gone shopping earlier in the day to get booze for the party, but I hadn’t gotten anything because I neither wanted to pay for anything nor did I really want to drink because of the semi-early departure the next day. Well, Jesse offered me a beer and I said yes. Not 10 minutes later I was handed a cosmo by Cecile and not 10 minutes after that I received a Brazilian drink from Ana Paula. It wasn’t that there was a problem. It was just that it had all come so quickly!

At one point Ana Paula was practically begging me to come dance with her so I did. She taught me the dance steps and I did my best to follow along. I got cheers from the guys, so I definitely think that I didn’t look that bad. 

Once I had had enough I headed upstairs to take a shower and get ready for bed. It was going to be hectic morning the next day so I worked on my journal for a bit and headed to bed.