The week began with an air of finality as the groups started to give their final presentations. On Monday, Groups 1 and 2 presented their visions for 2020 at the Lise Meitner Gymnasium, Groups 3 and 4 had their turn at the Gymnasium Eppendorf the next day and Groups 5 and 6 at the Heilwig Gymnasium on Wednesday. The audience consisted of 12-16 year olds who asked many interesting questions about the presentations and life in India.
In the evenings, the group went shopping, visited the Stadtpark and sat by the Alster (our new favourite form of recreation). It's been a most enjoyable few days, making today's goodbyes even harder for us.
Last evening, we had a farewell party at the St. Martini church. Mr Bruhn, Mrs Premila and Surya gave short, heartwarming speeches thanking everyone for their kind hospitality and for making the exchange possible. We had a very nice dinner, after which we enjoyed a very nice program our German friends had prepared for us. Dorian played a lovely piece on the piano, after which Julian played some classical music on the guitar beautifully. Milena, Vincent, Claas and Jessica had made a very nice clip of the whole exchange, and we really enjoyed watching it and are grateful for the copies of it given to us. Another nice gesture was that sheets of paper with all our names had been put up on a wall so that each of us could write to and receive messages from everyone else. It felt very good to read all the nice things people had said for me. Each German student presented his/her buddy with a souvenir of the exchange, a framed collage of photographs from the programme.
After interacting with us and each other for a while, the adults left us to enjoy the loud part of the party. Vincent was our DJ and we danced for a long while until just before midnight, when we had a countdown to Madhan's 18th birthday. I hope he enjoyed it.
We will all meet at the airport in another hour. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to the people who've become big parts of our lives in the last few months and since we came to Hamburg. I think everyone will agree with me when I say it's been a wonderful time; we've learnt a lot and had so much fun. I cannot begin to describe how much this exchange has given me and I hope it continues in the years to come.
Tanvi Gandhi
Last evening, we had a farewell party at the St. Martini church. Mr Bruhn, Mrs Premila and Surya gave short, heartwarming speeches thanking everyone for their kind hospitality and for making the exchange possible. We had a very nice dinner, after which we enjoyed a very nice program our German friends had prepared for us. Dorian played a lovely piece on the piano, after which Julian played some classical music on the guitar beautifully. Milena, Vincent, Claas and Jessica had made a very nice clip of the whole exchange, and we really enjoyed watching it and are grateful for the copies of it given to us. Another nice gesture was that sheets of paper with all our names had been put up on a wall so that each of us could write to and receive messages from everyone else. It felt very good to read all the nice things people had said for me. Each German student presented his/her buddy with a souvenir of the exchange, a framed collage of photographs from the programme.
After interacting with us and each other for a while, the adults left us to enjoy the loud part of the party. Vincent was our DJ and we danced for a long while until just before midnight, when we had a countdown to Madhan's 18th birthday. I hope he enjoyed it.
We will all meet at the airport in another hour. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to the people who've become big parts of our lives in the last few months and since we came to Hamburg. I think everyone will agree with me when I say it's been a wonderful time; we've learnt a lot and had so much fun. I cannot begin to describe how much this exchange has given me and I hope it continues in the years to come.
Tanvi Gandhi
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