The Last Supper. And then the Last Last Supper...

No matter how much I wished that time would slow down so that I could stay in Salzburg just a little longer, the first week of February arrived, meaning that the time had come to say goodbye to the city of Salzburg, and all of my amazing friends here.

I spent the first part of the week working hard, as per, and the 'Beginning of the End' started on Wednesday. I went for a coffee with another Tim, one of the TAs who had become a really good friend, and the first person I went for a coffee with all the way back in October. We went to a small cafe in the centre, and I enjoyed my last piece of Austrian cake (well, last for now at least!). Afterwards we went to his house, and I finally got the hear his roommate playing his infamous guitar piece. Infamous, as ever since Tim moved in, he has been playing the same part of the same song, every day, day and night, without repent. I just had to laugh as I hadn't been in the house 5 minutes before he started up, although I did feel bad for Tim having to listen to that on repeat continually, especially as he doesn't even play the guitar well! Tim, being half Italian, cooked me some lovely pasta for dinner. Afterwards, we headed to Steinterrasse to have drinks with a few of the other TAs. This added to the feeling of my time going full circle, as our first Wednesday we had gone for drinks here as well. The difference, of course, being that the first time the weather was mild enough to sit outside and enjoy the spectacular view, whereas in the depths of February and Winter, we were relieved to come in out of the cold and de-frost a little inside.

During the afternoon on Thursday, I went for lunch with one the teachers from the evening school I'd been working at, and had met up with quite a few times before, Linda. I was craving a goat's cheese salad, which is turns out is near impossible to find in Salzburg, unless you go to the crazy Buddhist cafe I tried with my parents. We went to Republik (a club by night, but cafe by day) and I had a duck salad instead, with raspberry and chocolate dressing. I was skeptical about this mix, but it was actually really tasty. The one questionable bit was when I managed to get a forkful with just a hazelnut and chocolate dressing, and felt like I was eating a Ferrero Rocher in the middle of my salad! It was the first time we'd been able to meet since before Christmas, so I had the chance to explain my reasons for leaving face to face (the issues had been with my other school, not the evening school). Her reaction surprised me a little, as she was so so positive about it. She said that she thought it was a bold, brave and independent decision, and that she completely thought I'd done the right thing. As usual, we had plenty to talk about, and I relished this as one of my last opportunities to spend the afternoon speaking German.

On Thursday evening we all gathered at Libby and Rachel's house for our official Abschiedsessen. As all of the American and other British assistants are staying the full year, Alice, Cecilia, Rachel and I (the only ones leaving after the first semester to move onto other placements/other languages) were treated to an amazing 3 course meal, courtesy of the other TAs. Tim had taken the lead in organising the meal, so again it had a very Italian theme. We started with anti-pasti, then more delicious pasta, followed by lots of amazing home made cakes and cookies, including Libby's carrot cake (which I admit, I still dream about sometimes...). Once we'd eaten (and drunk) our full, it was time to whip out some of our favourite games, for a last time. This time around the 'Hat' game included lots of entries with references to 'The British girls leaving' etc, and, slowly, the fact we were leaving started to become more real. It was a great night, and really well organised by everyone involved. We then had to say our goodbyes to Libby, as she was flying home the next day for February half-term and made our way home, as some people still had a 6am start the next day for the last day of teaching.

Libby playing the 'After Eight'game

Mmm... cake...

I'm gonna miss these guys!

Although we'd had our 'official' farewell meal, the fact we were leaving still hadn't quite hit home. In order to delay the final goodbyes as long as possible, we arranged to spend the very very last night in the Augustinerbrau (where else?!). We brought our own food, and cards to play Ring of Fire, but as there were so many of us it was quite hard to keep the game going for that long. Nevertheless, it was a great evening, but I must admit that the whole time I was dreading having to say goodbye to everyone at the end of the night. In order to delay the goodbyes just a little longer. We went to another, non-smoking, bar in the centre and stayed there for another 3 hours. At the end, we knew that it was time to say our farewells. Walking out of this bar was when it really hit me. These people that I'd spent the last 5 months of my life with, week in, week out, had truly become people that I would count amongst my best friends. Although I already knew that there would be some I would definitely see again, it was still hard to say goodbye as it was the end of a wonderful chapter that I had shared with them. I struggled to find the words to say goodbye, and instead, the best way to describe what happened is that I essentially ended up howling like some kind of dog/beached whale while I searched for what to say before we parted. This wasn't how I imagined 'saying' goodbye (and also makes me sounds reaally weird...), but I hope they all know how much I appreciate and value their friendship and the memories we've shared since September. 

A selection of 'last photos' :

'The British are leaving, the British are leaving'

Sad to say goodbye, but love Cecilia photobombing this!

I will admit to getting a little upset once I was home, but I suppose that is just a testimony to how much fun we've all had together. I was by no means ready to leave Salzburg, but as the saying (or song) goes, 'All good things come to an end', and this was certainly a great thing.