My Last Post

I am sitting in my favorite armchair in our living room; the sun is shining, the weather mild, the birds are chirping, and the rhododendron bush is in full bloom. I am home.

Thursday morning I drove down to the station with the Pabst kids (well, I didn’t drive, Anna did) and hopped on an IC train to Frankfurter Flughafen. It was a good thing I had bought my ticket online and printed it out, or I think I would have just walked onto the train without going to the ticket stand, I’m that used to having an Eurail pass! It was difficult to say goodbye, to look at the Giebelstadt castle one last time and gaze out at the fields as we drove by them into Würzburg. We didn’t say anything in the car on the way to the station. Saying goodbye was difficult, but softened by the fact that I would see Mr and Mrs Pabst in a few months when they visit Canada, and Anna probably this winter when she travels. But just leaving Würzburg itself, my home for the last half year, seeing the Marienburg for the last time before the train headed into the tunnel, the church spires of the town…a quiet, contemplative time.
At the Frankfurter Airport I met up with Nicolas and Benedicte again and had lunch with them there at a small café. I had tomato salad with mozzarella (the mozzarella in Europe is miles apart from the junk that one buys here in Safeway).
Security and boarding and all that jazz went smoothly and soon I was in the air, swooping over the clouds. The flight wasn’t bad; this particular plane had a few inches more leg room then most, even allowing enough space that I could stretch my legs under the seat in front of me if I so desired. The food wasn’t bad (food standards on planes have been improving the last few years), the movies were okay but still not very good, and I didn’t sleep a wink for the 9 hours that it took to get to Calgary. It was interesting; by this time I had sunk into a bit of a daze. The plane flight just felt like any other plane or train that I had been on in the last six weeks while traveling. As if Vancouver was just the next brief stop in my travel itinerary. I was neither happy nor sad, giddy nor contemplative. Just neutral.

In Calgary I had a short hour to collect my baggage, check it in again, go through customs, through security and get on my next plane to Vancouver. Good thing it was running a bit late. On this plane I finally got a bit tired and managed to sleep for an hour (by now it was two in the morning in Germany). In Vancouver I was greeted with laughter and smiles by my family and we headed home. And now, well, I’m home.

I’m still in a bit of a daze, just unpacking my things, sorting things out, living life how it normally is at home. Germany seems to have retreated into the distance, a colorful, but dim blur of experiences. I don’t know if I like it; it makes it less painful, but also less real, as if it was all a dream. *sigh*. I don’t what to think, my mind is a mess right now.

One thing is clear; the last seven months were incredible. Absolutely. I hesitate to say it was the best time of my life, since my senior year was incredible as well, but I know this was the most influential time of my life so far. Being away from home, living independently, in a different culture, traveling and seeing different perspectives…it teaches you so much. For anyone thinking about it, DO IT. You will not be disappointed.

Looking back, I am so filled with gratitude and thank to God for how things happened and lined up. That I joined the FeG church and joined their youth group, that I could stay at the Pabst family with four teenagers who shared similar interests and who I all got along with, for the opportunity to do a practicum at a photographer (which I learned later is one of the best in Germany) and learn things that you don’t get taught in design school (and for free), and for all the wonderful people I was able to meet up with during my tour through Europe. God has been so good to me. He has no reason to pour out his blessing upon me, and yet, he did. And still does. What a time it was. To him be the glory.





What next?

I have two weeks break here at home before I head up to Barnabas Family Ministries on Keats Island, a Christian summer camp/retreat for families. Here I will be part of the staff in what I consider the best position on site, videographer. Run around and film everybody, then hop on the computer and paste it all together into a snazzy highlight video for everyone to take home at the end of the week. Oh, in my spare time do some promotional photography, design, and any odd jobs that require my helping hand. Can it get any better? Not really.
In September I start Engineering at UBC in the hopes of graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in five years (I’ll be doing the Co-op program)

This should keep me occupied for some time.

And what will happen to this blog?

I’m not sure. I think I’ll convert it into a place where I write about things that move me in my daily life, whether they are pictures, quotes from other people, the news of the day, or just plain feelings.
If you’re not interested in the inner musings of Thomas Sanz, then I bid you farewell, and thank you for reading. Next time I’m off on another worldwide adventure I’ll send out an email proclaiming the resurrection of the “Thomas in Germany” blog. Except then it may be “Thomas in Chile” or “Thomas in Botswana” or even “Thomas on the Other Side of the World”. Who knows. The adventure goes on.

Let me leave you with a picture from the island of Aegina in Greece. This kind of signifies how my life has been the last year. You never know what is on the other side of the door until you turn the door handle and step through…

God Bless.




And thus concludes my last “Thomas in Germany” post.

Thank you for reading.