The art of saying goodbye

Hey loves!

It's my last full week of school (Wednesday next week will be my last day of school) and it's been a very emotional time so far. A lot of things happened and I have no idea where to start. Although I don't like talking about the weather, I have to mention that it's about 35°C in Stuttgart! I love summer weather and that's why it makes me kind of happy when the sun shines and when you can start wearing shorts again.

But now, let's start talking about this week. On the weekend, I visited my family because one of my aunts celebrated her birthday. It was extremely touching to talk to all of my family members because this was the last time I saw them before going to Hong Kong. I'll maybe see one or two of them before I'll get on my airplane, but it's not sure yet and that's why it was so emotional to me.

It's also kind of weird to sit in my class and to talk to all of my class mates because I know that I'll leave them in a few days. Since the day I got the acceptance letter I knew that I'll leave but you keep thinking that you have time. At least that's what I did. But in fact, you don't have as much time as you think you do. To me, it feels like I have gotten the letter yesterday. I'm really sad because I'll leave my class mates behind. This loss wouldn't be a reason for not going (at least not for me) but it's a tough step. I've spent my pasts years with them and that's why it won't be easy to say goodbye to them. But that's what adventures like going to an UWC include: Stepping out of your comfort zone.

I've already said goodbye to most of my teachers and this was also sad. Yes, I know that students are usually not fans of their teachers, but my teachers were amazing and a lot of them helped me with the application for the United World Colleges and that's why I wanted to say goodbye to them and to thank them.Many teachers invested a lot of time in helping me with the application and I really appreciate that. I mean, they did that in their free time and they didn't have to do it.

I have also known some of my teachers for six years and that's why it was also a little bit sad to say bye to them.

But the hardest goodbye of the week (yes, there was another one) was the one I had to say to a fourth grader. I gave this little guy private tuition in mathematics and German for about one and half a year. It meant a lot to me because I got a lot in return for doing this. Not in a material sense - I volunteered. But seeing that he made progress and that he learned new things what made him proud, that means a lot to me. I loved going there once a week and I'll definitely miss it. If you have an hour of your week that you can give to someone, then do it. It is so worth it. I didn't think that I'd have fun doing this, but I did. They're telling the truth when they say that making others happy makes you happy. I volunteered at an organization called "St. Josef" and I can say that they were amazing. They were super friendly and I always had the feeling that they truly appreciated it. If you want to volunteer too, you can simply check which organizations are opened up for this in your town and then you can apply there.

That's everything I wanted to say about my week. And I know that my addiction to the B&W Filter has to come to an end, but in the moment I'm just into black&white photos. But I'll try to upload some color pictures soon!

Lots of love,

Elena

JEWELRY

Upper ear ring: H&M (comes with another ear ring)

Ear ring with pearl on the back: H&M

WANNA CHECK OUT SOME OF THE STUFF I MENTIONED?

United World Colleges (UWC): www.uwc.org

St. Josef: www.st-josefggmbh.de