Today’s the day… and the last one for me in Pleasanton…
Yesterday, Sunday, was awful… working on the thesis and the presentation for Monday (today) AND packing all my belongings into two giant suitcases. Turns out it was a good thing to buy a second giant one. I hardly fit everything in there…
As expected, I didn’t get much sleep during that last night and to make matters even worse I had to go to the dry cleaner’s to pick up the stuff that he should have delivered on Saturday!!! So, the day didn’t quite start that well, but it got better from there.
Having a short breakfast with some colleagues, then refining my presentation and ultimately giving the presentation to a group of six people. Actually, I was kind of surprised how well the presentation went, since I was kind of tired and that usually decreases my English skills an awful lot… But I can’t complain, I think (and was told) I did well.
“After the game is before the game!” and so right after the presentation I set off for one last, final, ultimate game of soccer. It was a really good game and I even scored (I have to confess, I had not done so in some time)! Maybe people were just afraid of me because of Friday’s incident and didn’t want to get in my way… 😛
After my last, final lunch in the cafeteria, I got together with Robert to get him up to speed on all of my tasks and to do the final performance evaluation. I think Robert was evenly scared (like the soccer team) and gave me good grades and comments on everything. 😀
And it wouldn’t really have been me, if I hadn’t had a little something for my boss…
A little homage to the youtube-clip I posted a while ago, which both Robert and I think is hilarious! 🙂
The afternoon flew by pretty fast and I was running out of time, since my pick up service was scheduled for 5:30 pm. So I said my goodbyes to my colleagues, whom I have grown really fond of. That was a very hard thing to do, since I really enjoyed my stay here and working with all of these kind and supportive people…
Ultimately, with a little delay, I “boarded” my pick up service and submitted to destiny/ destination. 😛
Checking in and going through security went really smooth, even though my suitcases weighed 25 (!) and 22,8 kg. Phew! 🙂 Good thing, people aren’t as strict as in Germany around here. 😀
Anyway, it is 8:18 pm now and they’ll start boarding the plane shortly. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all of my new American friends and colleagues for making this trip both possible and the most fantastic and enjoyable thing EVER! I sure won’t forget you and everything we’ve “been through”. 😉
Take care!
Tommaeh's Blog 
It was nice working with you and playing soccer. Good luck in school. Now start writing in German so I have a reason to practice!