Our excursion to Wales was first of all dominated by the most popular sport (not castle-watching) – football of course!

Football and the European Championship in Portugal were the reasons why almost 50 German students and other international people met in a bar in the middle of student resdience halls in Bangor, gazing nervously at a large screen.

Football was also the reason why many students from Siegen turned into gambling-crazed soccer fanatics who bet on the game Germany vs. Holland: 50 pence was the wager and Johannes and Aike were the lucky experts to win the pot! And last but not least, football was the reason why I had to walk around with a swollen leg on crutches. But I was not the only injured person Our spontaneous gender-mixed soccer game claimed six victims, people who couldn’t walk or move the next day properly. You can imagine that Cathy and Phil were very delighted about that!

But I have to say that I don’t regret anything apart from the fact that I didn’t shoot a goal! On the other hand I was privileged to spend several hours in the emergency room of a Welsh hospital. Special thanks to Mareike and Christoph (a.k.a. our Crisis Manager) who stayed with me all the time and cared for me. Also thanks to everybody who had patience with me, people who carried my bag and so on.

To say it in terms of football: Our excursion was like a soccer game with many goals and injuries, but it was never boring. We began as single players and ended as a well-functioning team.

Annette Dworski