My favourite KUS-Experience

Position: 47°57,8’ N, 007°20,1’ W
Date:15th of April 2021

When I got my topic “My favourite KUS-Experience”, I was sure, it would be a very easy topic to write about. Now I am sitting in the messroom crossing the Biscaya and I really do not know, what has been my favourite experience in this journey so far. It is difficult, because there is not one single event that I would call my favourite moment or experience. But I will try to name some of them.

One thing I really enjoyed was a football match against some Capverdian children. We were doing research about the local culture in a small village on Sao Antaõ, when some kids asked Josh and me, whether we wanted to play football with them. I really enjoyed this time, because all the children were so kind. And even though they surely were two or three years younger than Josh and me, they beat us with their skills and moves.

Another highlight for me was our “Bavarian Evening”. This evening Ruth and Detlef wore traditional Bavarian clothes which we bought them for Christmas. It was their first time they wore some clothes like these and I think it surely was Detlefs last time. Then we had brezels and “Obazda” for dinner. We were listening to typical Bavarian music and were dancing until 11pm when three people of our crew had to make their way home back to Germany.

The day we went up on the Pico de Fogo surely was one of my favourites, too. The way up was not that easy, but it was not so hard that anyone had to go back. So, after two or three hours our whole group reached the top. Much better than the way up was the way down. The Pico is a volcano and because of a volcanic eruption one side of the mountain was full of ash. It was like warm snow and we could run and jump all the way down as fast as we could.

But the moments I probably enjoyed most were all the evenings on land, when all KUSis were sitting around a fire, some people were playing the guitar and others were singing or just talking. I can not really describe this atmosphere. But it is such a special feeling to sit there with your friends or maybe also some kind of new family. Everybody is happy and no one thinks about home. I loved all these evenings and I think I will never forget them.