Words can't really express how fond I am of this little space of Steffy's. Week 2 of exchange and I'm pretty much homeless in the middle of Germany, so I ask random friendly German girl (Steffy) whom I've only met twice if I can crash at her place, and lo and behold starts a friendship I would never have expected before this trip began. My sheltered Singaporean self finds it funny, and yet it's completely normal to hit it off with someone from such a different background culturally from you. I have so much love for this girl - cooking amazing food, movie nights, endless tea sessions, delicious elderberry and sparkling water concoctions, half drunk nights eating microwaved leftovers ("you guys call this supper?"), tireless reciting "Stövchen" to me until I got the pronunciation right, inviting me to join what would become our Karlsruhe family... And seriously guys, that couch is comfortable.

We were both one each others first few friends in Karlsruhe, and it's sad because for once I didn't "lose" a friend because of stupid things I said, but because time just ran out. While we were on the cab to the train station on my last day of exchange, I felt like pretending I was just going away for another one of my weekend trips and I'd be back real soon. We both agreed that we didn't feel sad at all that this was the end because we knew we'd definitely see each other again some day in the future, and I'm really looking forward to the day where I can meet dear Steffy again, because she really made all the difference to my exchange experience!