learning to be selfless
and home. The saddest picture I took on tour. Tour is something truly indescribable. The connection that grows between such a culturally diverse group of people is something that one can’t experience anywhere other than rotary. The fact that we could...

and home.

The saddest picture I took on tour. Tour is something truly indescribable. The connection that grows between such a culturally diverse group of people is something that one can’t experience anywhere other than rotary. The fact that we could all learn to understand and accept one another despite our differences really bring s me hope for a  time when we can use what we have learned on our exchanges to connect people in other aspects of our lives.

This was my Oldies’ last tour. I’ll miss some of them more than I want to think about. This picture shows Joelle, an Oldie, and Ale, a Newbie, looking out the window as half of our group left the bus. For Joelle, it was her last tour. For Ale, it was his last tour with his very best friends.    And for all of us, it was a faint echo of a goodbye to come- a goodbye that none of us are ready for.

But lets keep this happy. Detour was amazing, these people are amazing, this country is amazing and my life is amazing- and it’ll be staying that way.

Hamburg :

Same as with Munchen, i remember Hambug as being beautiful but too cold to properly enjoy. The last two nights, however, were memorable in the way that us exchange students used our creative power to make them memorable. Lots of chilling, laughing, and dancing got us through the last two days, and although there was a tint of sadness there in Hamburg, we ignored it blissfully.

Why was Berlin my favourite city? Because something about the air and the sunshine and the atmosphere and the pace of life, the little shops next to giant companies, the wall outlining history only years before my life began, the feeling of being...

Why was Berlin my favourite city? Because something about the air and the sunshine and the atmosphere and the pace of life, the little shops next to giant companies, the wall outlining history only years before my life began, the feeling of being welcome and anonymous at the same time- something about l that stuck with me, and I’d really like to go back.

I figure something is a whole lot better than nothing at all. And that plays true for most things in life, really.

I figure something is a whole lot better than nothing at all. And that plays true for most things in life, really.

Dresden: In Dresden, the hostel rooms were two-person only rooms, and I was fortunate enough to spend the two nights with my best friend Ari. She comes from Peru, and is likely the only cold-hearted south American you’ll ever find. That’s actually...

Dresden:

In Dresden, the hostel rooms were two-person only rooms, and I was fortunate enough to spend the two nights with my best friend Ari. She comes from Peru, and is likely the only cold-hearted south American you’ll ever find.

That’s actually not true. Ari is one of the most genuinely caring, sweetest people I’ve ever met. She’s open, intelligent, wise, and talking  & laughing with her on those nights was what made the city of Dresden so lovely for me. I won’t ever forget laughing hysterically in front of the hostel stairs, or the song we wrote for the talent show after insisting for an hour that we didn’t have a talent, or the trick that was played on us, or listening to Bon Iver on the hostel room floor talking about the people that matter verses the people that dont, or doing our laundry in the bathroom sink- all these little things made the nights in Dresden my favourite nights- and I have little Ari to thank for that.

Going on, is by far the most beautiful city that we stayed in on tour. It’s in east Germany, meaning that every building we saw had been demolished in the war. Afer 1989, Germany and many other countries invested in the rebuilding of Dresden and other eastern german cities. One day, Dresden will look like it did before the war. Then, I’ll come back.

Rothenburg-

A medieval little town, a night of being frightfully too cold, walking unhappily too far, and of laughing dangerously too loud. Also, a warning. But I won’t explain that.

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