Living in Schloss Wittgenstein

Before I traveled to Germany, I heard many times that the days would go by quickly. I didn’t know how true this was until I realized that I am sitting in my host family’s house and language camp is already over. That was one of the quickest and best months of my life.  

I vividly remember how I felt when I stepped off the bus on August 6^th and saw Schloss Wittgenstein towering over me. Everything felt so foreign, but now it’s hard to imagine not living in the castle. In order to keep the Schloss forever in my memory (and to keep me from writing pages and pages of memories), I would like to make a short list for you of moments last month that I never want to forget.  

• Staying up until 1 a.m. watching a meteor shower with my wonderful roommates who I already miss so much; and seeing the stars with no light pollution  

• All the spontaneous dance parties: in the rain, on stage with the band at Freitags in Bad Laasphe (the town festival), in my room with my roommates with Christmas music playing  

• All the parties: the pickle party (which I must say was the best and was hosted by Hugh, my fellow blogger), my Shaun the Sheep/pocky party, our end-of-language camp party in which I almost won a sparkling water funkyball tournament, and our class party on the last day of camp which felt very surreal 

• Watching Emma with German audio and then recreating the waltz for the end-of-language camp talent show  

• Going on sunrise walks in the misty forests 

• Our day trip to Marburg which included lots of food and shopping and history learning  

• The many nights of stumbling sweatily up the mountain back to the comfort of the Schloss 

• Taking our mattresses off our beds and having a sleepover with my roommates on the floor on the last night of Language Camp  

• And last but not least, seeing everyone’s faces light up with joy when they saw their Host Family for the first time  

I will miss the rainy days, the windmills in the distance, the breeze going through the trees, the quick trips to Rewe, the brotchen, Bad Laasphe, the notes we would write each other, the sunsets, and having Americans around me. Even though I will miss my language camp days so much, I am so excited to begin this next adventure! I want to thank the Experiment e.v. teamers and teachers so much for everything. You made this month so amazing and I will always remember your kindness, creativity and humor.  

As a precaution to future CBYXers, I would like to say: expect ups and downs even during language camp, use the forest path to go back and forth to town because it’s way faster, and bring shower shoes to the Schloss! 

Thank you once again for reading,  

Mary P. <3