25 years

18/11/2022

It all started with a message on signal, notifying me that JK had joined. It’s been ages since I have spoken to her and was not sure whether she had kept the same phone number. Texted her immediately. And she quickly confirmed that indeed she was the German girl I had met in Luxembourg, in the Summer of 97, almost 25 years ago.

I was already in touch with a German guy – who, in turn, was still in touch with his Lux buddy since then – and a British girl, separately, and was so excited with the possibility to meet again that I created a whatsapp group immediately, with the four of us.

J was still in touch with her Danish friend, who joined the group almost immediately, even though she did not have whatsapp at that point.

It was the 5 of us for a good while, the boys were silent and the girls talkative, as usual. Just reconnecting, sharing pictures, remembering an unforgettable summer for all of us. We were all there for a traineeship in the European Parliament, but we partied way more than we worked, and we were getting a nice amount of money per month.

J, who is the most organised of us all, and thanks to her I’ve got pictures of everybody, kept her Lux albums untouched, and one of the things she had was a list of the stagiaires, with names and surnames of our friends and acquaintances back then.

We remembered names, but not surnames.

I looked up for a Dutch girl we all remembered and loved, M was a party girl and very cool, and found her on Linkedin, we got back in touch and I added her to the group.

While scrolling on my phone, I realised I still kept my dear Swedish friend’s phone number and, in a leap of faith, decided to text the number, to realise it was her, who joined the group as well.

Later on, Louise, the British girl added a Spanish girl, not sure how she got her contact, to the group.

And today, after 25 years, we’ll meet again, in Lisbon.

Me, Jutta, Christel, Mila, and Eva. Hoping to meet with the other two girls next time. As the boys, as much as we’d love to meet them, did not manifest themselves. But are still in the group, so I guess that’s a good sign.

My heart is beating loud in my chest, in anticipation.

We made it, girls.

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