maybe it’s the knowledge that we were leaving this place very soon, we decided to make full use of the time we have here and pack our schedules with gatherings and parties.
wednesday (23/04)
besides being a celebration for sin cheow and yinlong’s birthday, tonight’s gathering was also somewhat a farewell dinner for ourselves, namely, the chinese exchange students. dinner menu includes:
- sweet and sour pork
- curry chicken
- ba ku teh
- fried vegetables
- cheese cake (with strawberries and whipped cream!)
asian dinner cum birthday celebration for sin cheow and yin long
thursday (24/04)
plan was for us to go over to nathalie’s place for lunch. so, in the morning, huifen and i headed over to school to do some revision for our respective exams the following day.
plan was for us to go over to nathalie’s place for lunch. so, in the morning, huifen and i headed over to school to do some revision for our respective exams the following day.
view from break out room
notes!
yellow is the new black!
on our way to nathalie’s house over in oestrich, we stopped by to take some pictures the vineyards which we were sure we would miss so much.
the vineyards have finally turned green!
cycling to nathalie's place for lunch
lunch was great fun and it was also the last time we are going to see fredrick since he is leaving on friday morning.
romain helping out with the salad
nathalie's place!
hungry people!
with hong!
the girls get busy with the food preparation!
with caro!
fredrick who's leaving the following day :/
caroline and yinghao acting busy! ha!
our fav couple :D
yummy rice salad!
mathilde's mum's roll!
we contributed to the salad too!
romain and mathilde spreading nutella on the roll
lunch at nathalie's balcony!
friday (25/04)
i had my last exam today and it was pretty ok. if all things go well, i should be able to score a pretty decent grade. with this, i have officially come to the end of my school term in ebs. albeit short (and very very slack) it was memorable and i guess in a way, i’m gonna really miss the feeling of studying in a foreign university.
saturday (26/04)
because the weather has been so nice for the past couple of days and coz we have been saying we want to do it for the longest of time, today, we had a barbeque on clement’s balcony. so while everyone was busy preparing for it, huifen and i hid in our rooms to compile recipes and work on the recipe book which we intend to give to the girls as a farewell gift.
i had my last exam today and it was pretty ok. if all things go well, i should be able to score a pretty decent grade. with this, i have officially come to the end of my school term in ebs. albeit short (and very very slack) it was memorable and i guess in a way, i’m gonna really miss the feeling of studying in a foreign university.
saturday (26/04)
because the weather has been so nice for the past couple of days and coz we have been saying we want to do it for the longest of time, today, we had a barbeque on clement’s balcony. so while everyone was busy preparing for it, huifen and i hid in our rooms to compile recipes and work on the recipe book which we intend to give to the girls as a farewell gift.
waiting for the bbq to start!
barbeque was really fun and it was not just because of the food. the company was great (as usual) and the weather was so nice that we could sit outside with just one layer of clothing.
good food, great company!
girls with their ice-cream
we ate, drank (finished 1 ½ crates of beer) and played silly drinking games. it was a really enjoyable afternoon and I know the rest felt the same way too.
check out the amount of beer we consumed just that afternoon alone!
everyone's abit drunk!
clement's balcony
at 6, we decided to walk over to schloss so that we can watch the video which clement specially made. it was crazy coz we were just walking on the streets with our beer in one hand, talking at the top of our voices, playing pranks on one another and basically just acting like little kids.
walking to schloss
outside schloss with our beer!
after all the technical hiccups, we finally got to screen the video and it brought back many fond memories. pictures of us since the first day we arrived, from strangers to now, close friends, every photograph held a special meaning and when the video ended, everyone just wished we had another 4 months to relive every single of those moments.
waiting for the video to start
our supermodel shot...not!
we were supposed to walk over to rewe to buy stuff for our picnic the following day. however, we were distracted by the sheer beauty of our neighbourhood halfway through and so we ended up taking pictures while the rest moved on.
beauty we can never get enough of
we were not drunk.
that night, we had dinner in clement’s room and even though everyone was tired (and probably a little tipsy from the amount of alcohol we had consumed in the day) no one really wanted to leave or be the first to say that we should go to bed.
but I guess all good things come to an end, and finally, we decided that we needed to let romain rest since he is leaving early next morning. the atmosphere was one of reluctance and much gloom. we did our farewells and even romain, who is usually crazy and constantly cracking us up with his public-display-of-affections with yinghao, became exceptionally quiet. it was only the next day did i read the heart-felt message he left for us on the hattenheim tauschies facebook group wall, at 2am in the morning.
sunday (27/04)
today we went for a picnic over at ingelheim! it was fun coz we cycled over to the jetty to meet the rest (coz clement’s car couldn’t take all of us) and we took a ferry to cross the rhine river to the other side.
but I guess all good things come to an end, and finally, we decided that we needed to let romain rest since he is leaving early next morning. the atmosphere was one of reluctance and much gloom. we did our farewells and even romain, who is usually crazy and constantly cracking us up with his public-display-of-affections with yinghao, became exceptionally quiet. it was only the next day did i read the heart-felt message he left for us on the hattenheim tauschies facebook group wall, at 2am in the morning.
sunday (27/04)
today we went for a picnic over at ingelheim! it was fun coz we cycled over to the jetty to meet the rest (coz clement’s car couldn’t take all of us) and we took a ferry to cross the rhine river to the other side.
ferry ride to ingelheim
the afternoon was a nice and relaxing one, as we lied on the grass and just whiled our time away. these past few days made me realize how one can really slow down the pace of his life if he chooses to, and how different the world actually looks when he does so. i don’t think i would like to lie on the grass every single day and watch my life pass me by, but taking a break every now and then from this crazy crazy world definitely sounds like a good idea.
relaxing on the grass!
relaxing on the grass!
picnic!
yet another artistic shot of hong
rowers spotted!
waiting for our ferry ride home
monday (28/04)
today is officially the last time we are going to have our dinner, together, in our hattenheim kitchen.
early in the morning, huifen and i went over to schloss to print the recipes and to decorate the book. we also managed to settle some administrative stuff like steal paper boxes from school rubbish chute (to use as parcel to ship our belongings back to singapore), buy ebs merchandise (i got myself a polo-tee) and close our bank accounts.
as we returned home that evening, we basically locked ourselves in the room to do last minute touch ups to the recipe book.
clement was the chef that night, as he promised to make us a mean lasagne before he leave. nathalie also came over since she was also leaving the following day.
the atmosphere in the house that evening was eerily solemn. in the room, we were busy choosing photos to save and burn into a disc for them, while in the kitchen, the french barely spoke a word. it was depressing just to step into the kitchen coz everyone seemed so sad and it was almost too much for me to take.
in the end, dinner was served and i made several attempts at making conversations and make the dinner seem like the one we have any other day. I guess they were a little sad that we were hiding in our rooms when they were making dinner, instead of spending time with them.
so, towards the end of dinner, we surprised them by showing them a slideshow of all the photographs we have put together for them and that, certainly got everyone nostalgic. the lights were switched off and music was playing in the background. photographs of all the good times we spent together were shown and every photo brought back memories which we have forgotten. constant “ahhs”, “oh my gods”, “that was the time when…” were heard and together, we laughed and teased each other about all the silly stuff we did these past 4 months.
when the lights came on, we presented mathilde and caroline with the recipe book and that was when everyone started crying. i didn’t think i would, but the moment i saw caroline cry, i couldn’t stop myself and before i knew it, all 4 of us were huddled together, hugging each other, and crying.
i guess for me, it was sad but yet, nice to know that we had made such good friends here who will cry when we have to part. i know that there is no other way i wished for my exchange experience to be.
that night, we said goodbye to caroline and clement, who were leaving early next morning, as well as nathalie, who we wont be seeing anymore. we tried to be strong, and talked about how we are gonna have so much fun when we go visit them in marsaille and paris, respectively.
tuesday (29/04)
mathilde left on the 12.21pm train, and after seeing her off at the train station, we went over to the post office to send our parcels. while the rest studied for ICT, hong and i made dinner. little did i know that was to be the last meal i will make in that kitchen which i have come to be so attached to.
the flat seems so quiet now that everyone is gone, and we 4 are the only ones left.
wednesday (30/04)
after their exam, we headed to wiesbaden for our last chinese buffet lunch and our failed attempt at cutting hair.
that night, the guys made dinner and then it was back to more packing and clearing of the house.
today is officially the last time we are going to have our dinner, together, in our hattenheim kitchen.
early in the morning, huifen and i went over to schloss to print the recipes and to decorate the book. we also managed to settle some administrative stuff like steal paper boxes from school rubbish chute (to use as parcel to ship our belongings back to singapore), buy ebs merchandise (i got myself a polo-tee) and close our bank accounts.
as we returned home that evening, we basically locked ourselves in the room to do last minute touch ups to the recipe book.
clement was the chef that night, as he promised to make us a mean lasagne before he leave. nathalie also came over since she was also leaving the following day.
the atmosphere in the house that evening was eerily solemn. in the room, we were busy choosing photos to save and burn into a disc for them, while in the kitchen, the french barely spoke a word. it was depressing just to step into the kitchen coz everyone seemed so sad and it was almost too much for me to take.
in the end, dinner was served and i made several attempts at making conversations and make the dinner seem like the one we have any other day. I guess they were a little sad that we were hiding in our rooms when they were making dinner, instead of spending time with them.
so, towards the end of dinner, we surprised them by showing them a slideshow of all the photographs we have put together for them and that, certainly got everyone nostalgic. the lights were switched off and music was playing in the background. photographs of all the good times we spent together were shown and every photo brought back memories which we have forgotten. constant “ahhs”, “oh my gods”, “that was the time when…” were heard and together, we laughed and teased each other about all the silly stuff we did these past 4 months.
when the lights came on, we presented mathilde and caroline with the recipe book and that was when everyone started crying. i didn’t think i would, but the moment i saw caroline cry, i couldn’t stop myself and before i knew it, all 4 of us were huddled together, hugging each other, and crying.
i guess for me, it was sad but yet, nice to know that we had made such good friends here who will cry when we have to part. i know that there is no other way i wished for my exchange experience to be.
that night, we said goodbye to caroline and clement, who were leaving early next morning, as well as nathalie, who we wont be seeing anymore. we tried to be strong, and talked about how we are gonna have so much fun when we go visit them in marsaille and paris, respectively.
tuesday (29/04)
mathilde left on the 12.21pm train, and after seeing her off at the train station, we went over to the post office to send our parcels. while the rest studied for ICT, hong and i made dinner. little did i know that was to be the last meal i will make in that kitchen which i have come to be so attached to.
the flat seems so quiet now that everyone is gone, and we 4 are the only ones left.
wednesday (30/04)
after their exam, we headed to wiesbaden for our last chinese buffet lunch and our failed attempt at cutting hair.
that night, the guys made dinner and then it was back to more packing and clearing of the house.
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