Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #1

Kathy's best summer was in 1972, when she went to Germany between her second and third year in college.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #2

In hindsight, Kathy felt she did not plan the trip well (too many of the wrong kind of suitcases, poor planning with the train ride)

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #3

Kathy was disappointed to learn that the family she was supposed to live with only rented out rooms to students, and she did not have contact with them. She became very homesick.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #4

Kathy thought about returning home early when she felt the Goethe Institut (the school she was attending) did not treat students well (she was late the first day of school and was denied breakfast by the headmaster, but she felt better after the kitchen staff snuck her some food).

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #5

Kathy made friends with another 20-year-old named Lucia who was from Italy. Lucia was at the Goethe Insitut to learn German to help her family who were shopkeepers. Kathy was learning German for her college classes. Kathy and Lucia enjoyed shopping, going out for coffee and practicing German.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #6

Kathy’s boyfriend from home visited at the end of the school term. They visited Venice, Italy and ended up in Salzburg. During the train trip to Salzburg they had to sleep in the hallway because buying a ticket did not mean one could sit in a seat.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #7

Kathy’s boyfriend went home and Kathy stayed in Salzburg to go to the Salzburg Music Festival. She stayed in a converted stable, with other college students, on the palace grounds of “Schloss Klessheim.” She went to her first opera that summer, and also listened to string quartets in town.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #8

Kathy wanted to stay in Austria, but did not. She had been offered a job as an au pair, but got homesick before the job started, and in a moment of impulsivity, flew back home.

Teacher's SUMMARY STATEMENT for Paragraph #9

Kathy continues to wonder what her life would have been like if she had stayed in Europe after the Summer of 1972, but is content to know that even though not everything she experienced had been comfortable, it was her best summer ever.