Well here we are. Almost a year after moving to Germany, the adventure is coming to an end. I’ve turned in my last assignments, sat through my last exams, signed off my last academic documents. Now, I have a few weeks to enjoy the sun and the oh so delicious German breweries. I won’t lie to you, my last few weeks have not been incredibly varied in terms of activities – it usually resembles something along the lines of barbecue, drinks, reading in the park, more barbecues, maybe more drinks.

There is one thing, however, that has truly marked my year abroad on many occasions. This year has pushed my social boundaries to an extreme that I did not think possible. It’s quite frankly incredible how a simple gesture towards a complete stranger can mark the beginning of a long-lasting friendship. One of these occasions was captured by my fellow friends: I had just passed my last exam, there was an open-air festival in a nearby park, so naturally we all moved in that direction with our trusty case of beers.

After a while, a group of people sat not too far from us with the whole live music hook-up: microphone, speakers, guitar and a positive attitude. None of my friends wanted to get closer to appreciate the flowing tunes, so I went alone and sat right in front of the guitarist (see picture below). They turned out to be a really cool group of people, and no later than 20 minutes after we were all sitting together singing along (my sceptical friends included). We ended up inviting them to a party that night, to which they actually showed up to, and we are still in contact since. All this, just because I put my pride away and decided to enjoy the moment.

I have plenty of videos from this year stashed on my phone, which I will eventually put together into a little recap video for all of you to watch (and for myself to keep as a souvenir).