It Ended

And it ended well. I suppose. Well, like everything it had its black and white parts, but for you, i will just show the brilliant pearl.



the town next to mine is one of the most famous in Germany, and i never went there until before i left. hm. Heppenheim has some of these cool half timered houses. And the most beautiful market place ever. Putatively.









Here I am standing with my hands behind my back and my eyes averted.





In the next picture, I am photographing the umbrella.





Cool:





Alright, so this is how it developed. Everyone wanted me to make a going away party but that was just too much work. So Sven organized it and i paid for it. Here is a picture of Sven's Plan, and though you cant read it, its alright. He made this good plan and it worked and oh, how wonderful.





This party was up in the mountains and people came and basically the next few pictures are of kids that came to bid me farewell and some of me that are progressively funnier and goofier. And i dont care about the self incrimination.

Pascal and Frierich lighting the grill!





Sven and Phil. Phil is a "music expert".





Oh look how many people came! Oh!





Sven as Filbert. Me with my classic look away to the left pose. "Hey, whats going on over there?"





Nikolai, who is a talented Actor. I will miss our conversations.





Martin Caesar (yes), Steffen and I. Steffen is going to go work in Australia.





Sebastian also helped organize it all.





Ah! a girl. Named Silke.





Steffen is such a good kid. Jesus. He helped make a photo album for me.





The other Constantin, who wrote an incredible letter for me. Thank you.





And lets see, Sebastian is hugging Damaris, Suzanne and me. i like this picture.





and when everyone left, i walked to the other mountain and up to the top to watch the sun come up for the last time over Bensheim. But it wasnt sad. It was sort of triumphant, and i was going home! It was a nice ending. With a beginning, interestingly enough.





I felt really tired of Germany, of being different, and though i really felt included and accepted at the end, and i appreciate everything, i was still the guest and the exchange student, and i thought it really was time to go back home to what i know and they do not. Everyone has something like that, and i was separated for a very good while. I think that the year didnt go very fast. Of course i am here at home and think about the last time i was here. Fine, but i think i will always remember that when i was 18, i had a relatively difficult time away from comfort and dependability. i suppose i learned that i can trust myself to accomplish what it is that i really want. i wanted to make friends and i wanted to teach them something and leave a part of me behind, and i wanted to go home. and i have almost accomplished everything. i just need to go see my friends.





The last photo in Germany:







To Deutschland: Thank you very much, i bow to your lessons and experiences. But i can now focus on what is next. Your importance to me was monumental. Thank you to my friends and to my host families. There are people there that cannot be found anywhere else, and that is something i hope they understand.



and so, now that that is over, i will announce my beginning of College, the next step. Exciting. I would like to try to document it in a similar way, and so, if you would like to keep looking at me, please do.



I will give everyone time to become accustomed to this, and so in one week, i will change my website address to



www.kostyafightingit.blogspot.com



and i will see how that works.



love, konstantin bakhurin, almost 19 years old.

so.

i had a very climactic ending. i will show you soon.

but thats it and thats all and i am at home home home.

love, kostya.

i will possibly keep this thing going, but then i will have to change the website name, and will warn you appropriately.

How do Slugs Experience Time?

This Blog is lucky that i am writing today. If i had written last week, i think it would have been a very depressing entry. Because for some reason, i was pretty down in the dumps. Something about the enormity and terror of the world was getting to me. I am lucky that i have a mom like mine, and somehow she sensed my thoughts and called me last night. There are things to be happy about, amongst the difficulties. take a look:



For the first and last time this year, we used microscopes in biology. My opinion: AP Biology back home was certainly a wonderful, wonderful class.







And my host sister graduated from school, which is a much bigger deal here, i believe. But i think our celebrations were for the most part, more fun. Here she is getting her last reportcard, which really is like a permanent record, including how many absences she had in her school career and what she got on her final deadly test.







ALL the kids here have these big ridiculous bags that they carry around in school and they contain their pens and pencils. I think that they were necessary in elementary school and maybe until they were in the 8th grade, but they still continue to carry around these bags full of crap that they hardly ever use. Boy Scout mentality everyday. But Aylean's bag wins for being the greatest.







Win and I went to the lake and it is a pretty nice clean place where everyone goes on hot days. European kids dont wear speedos but those gross american suits. Well i still wore my drag shorts from swimming, and will always.









This was sort of a little celebration at Slobos. Sven's laugh is very very very very funny.







Max Flugel.







Inga and Nora at the other more isolated lake. They were in the Shakespeare play, too.





Here we are visiting a Rotarian and his wife. They are very nice to us and are surprisingly young. The lady is the daughter of a politian who was very involved in the German Government after World War 2. So she grew up relatively famous. Interesting.





THIS is how ive been feelings recently. Sort of bored and sort of lonely.





My host mom took me to the Neanderthal Museum, where the first Neanderthal museum was found. AND NeanderTAL is just a normal place. So thats where the name comes from.





Tada! I believe these were the first bones found here.





A translation of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species into German. Published in the 1860s.





Homo Erectus





Venus Statues





Micheal Jackson Manequin.





This past weekend, Karla flew back to Mexico. Here we are at our last Rotary event together. Notice that i am lacking something pretty important. She made a short speach and then we were out of there to go celebrate a little.





Goodbye Karla.







It is very interesting how the time is almost over. I am ready mentally, but there are still things i need to take care of. Its not going to be too difficult, just monumental and meaningful. But i seem to change a lot of things into symbolic status, and so it is nice that this time its already done for me. My goal now is to leave it behind but in good light, with people thinking, "wow, that was a very interesting person."



otherwise what was the point? if i didnt influence anyone?



if i am lucky therell be some more.



but if not, i cant believe it, all the same.



kostya, the same thing.