For A World Full Of Sunshine And Klainebows

My experiences of Curt Mega’s The Candle Project

Week 1 – Home

 

First of all you have to know that I don’t live at home any more. I moved to another city in the beginning of October to study German Literature and British & American Studies.

So when I headed home for the weekend I started to think about how I could show my family how grateful I am for them and how much they mean to me.

I know that I am very blessed to have a family that supports me no matter what and that will defend me to death if necessary. I also know that I would not be able to go to university if my parents wouldn’t pay everything for me. I simply couldn’t afford it (especially not in the city I study now because the living expenses are ridiculously high there!).

My parents are aware of my gratefulness so any great gestures from my side would be redundant and my parents wouldn’t want them any way.

So when I finally arrived home I decided to keep it small: little notes and post-its all over the place just saying that I love them, helping my mum with the household, clowning around with my dad, having a cup of coffee with my grandparents and driving my little brother to his friends.

Now I know that what I’ve done this weekend isn’t really much (especially compared to the things some of you did!) but those little gestures meant a lot more to my family than something pompous and exaggerated. Furthermore it brought a smile on my face to see how little it needs to make my family happy. Because that is what it was all about: making my family happy and showing them how much I care for them, also if I can’t show it to them every day because we live in different cities.

Little gestures like this remind us that we are one family and that we can rely on each other also if we are fighting from time to time and forget how much we love each other.

But maybe next time I’ll argue with my mother about a new dress I bought we’ll both remember how we sat in the kitchen this weekend folding clothes and laughing about a joke my dad just told us, and we’ll stop fighting because we’ll realize that it really isn’t important how many dresses I own.

Love from Germany

Gloria

Week 2 – Friends

 

This week’s assignment was probably the easiest as well as the hardest task of this project for me. On one side it was easy because I always care for my friends and I’m always there for them. That’s who I am. It is part of my personality to make sure that everyone that matters to me is happy and feels special and loved.

The hard part was the HOW? Since I only recently moved to another city to go to university, most of my friends are spread all over Germany or are even abroad. I have a few people here in this new city that I consider my friends, but my true friends, who I’ve known from school (and some of them even from kindergarten), are now studying in different cities or travelling across the world.

But what did I actually do for them this week? How did I show my love to them?

First, I have two friends here who both have been dumped by their boyfriends after a really long time (2 and 5 years). I was there for them: I’ve been crying with them, I’ve been sad, angry and hurt with them. But I also tried to make it better (though I’m really the wrong person to ask for help when it comes to boyfriends and break ups because I don’t really have any experiences in this area, but anyway…). Apart from talking and being there for them whenever they needed me, I also invited them over for a girl’s night. We watched all kinds of movies (okay, mostly Jackie Chan movies because they are lacking love stories XD), ate as much chocolate as we could and talked all night. I know I couldn’t take their pain away (because things like this just need their time) but I made them feel a little better and showed them that there are other people who love them and care for them.

The second thing I did was writing letters. I wrote about 15 letters to all of my friends that live in other cities or countries. Because there is nothing more beautiful than receiving a personal, handwritten letter from a friend, especially when you don’t expect it. I know it makes my day whenever I get a letter or a postcard from a friend and I hope I brightened their days with my letters as much as their letters, texts and messages brighten mine.

These letters cost me a lot of time but of course I didn’t forget my other friends here. I admit I kept it simple, but that made me realize that it actually doesn’t need much to remind your friends that you are there for them and that you love them. Simply asking my friends how their week was and listening to their stories made their day better. As well as bringing my ill friend tea and cookies made her feel better immediately, just because she knew that there was someone that really cared for her and wanted to know how she was feeling.

This week made me realize how important my friends are to me. Especially now that they’re spread all over the world and I’m pretty much on my own, because I don’t know many people here yet. I’m so thankful for each and everyone of them because I know that I can rely on them and they’ll always be here for me if I need them. That doesn’t only include my real life friends, but also all the awesome people I met online on twitter, tumblr & co, who are the only ones that really understand my craziness and my obsession with Glee, Narnia, Harry Potter and Doctor Who.

I hope they know that they brighten up every single one of my days with their craziness and joy and I hope that I can give a little bit of it back to them and make their days better.

I also want to thank you, Curt, because without you and your live chats I would have never gotten to know a certain French girl. We got into a conversation about the videos we send you so you could learn a little French and German. I’ve only known this girl for a week, but it feels like we’ve known each other for months. We have so much in common and I can’t imagine that I probably would have never met her if it weren’t for you! So thanks, Curt. Thank you so much for indirectly introducing me to her!

Love from Germany

Gloria

Week 3 – Neighbors

 

The first thing I asked myself this week was: Who are your neighbors?

Well, when you live in a student dormitory as I do, your neighbors are either your friends or you just don’t know them because there are so many of them.

So I wasn’t sure what was I supposed to do with this week’s assignment.

Sure I could have just continued how I began last week and been happy about the fact that my friends are also my neighbors. I could have continued to fill my friends’ lives with love and joy. But since this project is not only about love, but also about challenging yourself to be a better person, me and my friend decided to take things a little further.

The Christmas market here opened on Thursday and we decided to invite everyone from our dormitory to go there together as a group. On this way we had the opportunity to make new friends and I could fulfill this weeks’ assignment.

In the end we were about 50 students who stormed the Christmas market together. It was such an awesome night! We got to know students from all kinds of faculties and everyone had so much fun.

So in the end, we didn’t only spread the love farther in this week’s challenge, but we also gained a lot of new friends.

I know my text this week is very short and not really inspirational, but I have a lot to do for university. I just wrote this down now that I have at least something to share with you. Maybe I’ll edit it if I have more time in the next days.

Till then.

Love from Germany

Gloria

Week 4 – Strangers

 

This week’s task was one of the hardest for me. I’m not naturally an outspoken person and it’s hard for me to talk to people I don’t know. Once I’ve got to know them, this changes drastically (you won’t be able to stop me from talking once I got to know you :D), but it’s a long way till this happens.

So for me the challenge this week was to overcome my difficulties to just speak to people I don’t know and at the same time trying to fulfill these people’s lives with a little bit of love.

Because of my restraint I decided to keep it simple: Smiling to someone on the street (you’d be surprised how often you get a smile in return!), helping an old woman to dismount the bus, wishing the saleswoman a nice weekend, complimenting a girl on her style or shoes or something else.

While doing this I often noticed that these little gestures literally lit people up, they smiled and thanked me and seemed to be happier than before.

One girl (I told her that I loved her dress) even hugged me and thanked me what felt like a thousand times. She explained to me that she had had an awful day and that I had been the only person on this day that actually said something nice to her.  She thanked me for a few minutes and told me that I made her day.

This really made me think: isn’t it amazing how little it takes sometimes to make someone’s day brighter and better? To show people that they are not alone, that there are others who care for them, even if it sometimes is a complete stranger?

These past four weeks helped me to realize that even my smallest gestures can have an incredible and huge impact on the life of the people around me. And this is what I want to remember from these challenges. I really hope I can keep it in my mind and help other people with my limited resources.

Even if it is only a little smile: it can grow and spread love and light in this sometimes grey world.

Just like a candle in the dark.

 

Love from Germany

Gloria