It seems like it was only yesterday that I arrived at IAYC 2015 camp at Klingenthal, and it is two days from today to say goodbye to other participants of the camp. It has been an out- of-the-world experience at this camp. I have met so many wonderful people from around the globe, people of different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. Listening to every one of them broadens my perspective in life. It is surprising that mutual interest Astronomy can bring various people together in one camp. Throughout this camp, I have learnt many new things. I started learning ping pong with Mishal and Aoife from the beginning of the camp and now we are all so good at it! During the working group session, I also had the chance to learn some German from Emelie, Niklas, and Patsi. Niklas and Emelie had also taught me how to solve the Rubik cube partially. Moreover, I have also learnt how to set up and operate a telescope. Alexandro from Spain also taught me how to process photos taken for Astro-photography. During the free time, I also got some guitar lesson from Ayoub.

We have been through so much in this camp together as a team. So many crazy and random stuffs are what make this camp the best! We enjoyed stargazing in the observation field and slept there with our sleeping bags. Singing and performance night brought IAYC camp spirit alive. The shower party was phenomenal and I really enjoyed the craziness and had fun dancing with everyone.

In the working group, I worked with Patsi and Jade to create the most beautiful poster in IAYC for YUPPY. Our plant grew beautifully because we treated it so well and played beautiful music for it. We even named our plant “Muon”. “Hashtag”, the beautiful cat that loves to come to YUPPY for a nap had kept us a good company. I also learnt so much from this working group about teamwork to earn points for the team. In my project, Emelie and I synchronised well and we came together to solve many problems in our experiment. Initially, Arunav and I had hard time to come to an agreement. Then, our leader Eli put in effort to help us get together and we slowly progress to cooperate and somehow managed to finish our report on time. Kevin was also a significant help to our working group and we all together created a wonderful working atmosphere.

Finally, I enjoyed sharing my experience with other participants. I gave Albert some Japanese lesson and drew many members their portraits. During free time, we also spent time together to play and enjoy music together. Indeed, I enjoyed every single moment at IAYC and would like to keep all the friendships made with other participants and leaders.

In overall, I am very glad that I was given the opportunity to be a part of this camp. IAYC 2015 is fantastic and I would like to be able to come back to this camp in the future! Now I know, I am an IAYC participant and will always be one of IAYC.

By Anthony Choon Wei Vun (Malaysia)