It’s done! The tents are up and “furnished”, many many friends are already here awaiting the kick-off of the 4th International Summer Course at the EC.
In between all the buzzing activity of the course build-up, there was also a different side to the last four weeks. Volen from Bulgaria beautifully captured some of the more quiet moments of friendship, reflection, relaxation, and meditation. Enjoy!
By meike
We asked some friends to tell us what they think, what they feel being at the EC during the preparation time. See the EC trough their eyes 
„We are so quick! Everything is smooth – the EC and the Summer Course teams are working perfectly together.”
Ingo from Germany
„After four years, it is clear how important it is to meet regularly over the years and spend some time together in order to make the team cooperate more smoothly. And this year many people have surplus, many things are done much earlier.”
Roman from Czech Republic
„Amazing build up with lots of friends from all over the world with lots of surplus.”
Sven from Germany
„Being at the Europe Center is incredible. So many people gather, share their skills, discover new dimensions, and gain from the exchange. Everything always fits perfectly.”
John from USA
„Great building-up phase! More relaxed then ever, a lot of fun and a good mood everywhere! A lot of people but still a cosy atmosphere.”
Ricarda from Germany
„Coming here, especially, from Australia, is amazing. You can really see the potential, and how much our Lama inspires people. So much activity, so much joyful effort and so many deep connections developing so fast! I’m so glad I can be a part ot it every year and wish that everyone have the conditions to join in!”
Matt from Australia
By hubert
On the one hand a time is passing very quickly here, during the build-up phase of the International Summer Course, on the other hand we can not agree with the calendar: for us a few days here feels more like weeks.. Sometimes our posts on the blog are not as fast as the work outside and also in the offices – we want to show you some „old” photos of the moments of preparing the floor in the gompa tent and moments of sharing work and fun.
Nowadays we have a few sunny days after a lot of rainy hours. So when you consider that the mud outside the gompa tent was similar to that inside the tent, you can imagine how difficult it was to set up a wooden floor. The work is not only happening with construction or building up the course. We have a bunch of friends who at the same time are quietly working on their computers – preparing the moreEC campaign, graphics, registration systems, program schedules, translations and much much more.
Of course we are not only working: we have lectures of the traveling teachers who are here (like John from the US or Peter from Spain), movie evenings, late night talks and – surprisingly – parties in the Bau-Cafe
..and only a few days and we meet with our Lamas and thousands of our friends! Life is great at the EC!
By hubert
Here comes the sun – after three days of monsoon-like rain, we finally dared to take a camera outside to show you the results of the hard work that has been going on regardless of the weather.
Many friends stayed to help after the 2nd build-up weekend, and we have never seen the big tents go up in such a short time. So many people having so much fun together despite being soaked to the bones while putting them up. We are truely amazed at the spirit in this year’s build-up phase and would like to thank everyone who came for their great support and diligence!
And then there was a very special supporter of the work – following a movie night together in the Diamond Room, Lama Ole joined the boys for some serious wood chipping behind the barn. Afterwards he returned to his desk to work on projects like an interview for “Buddhism Today” together with Caty and the team.
Still there is of course looots of work left until the course starts – so please come, put up your tent in the sunshine and join the fun!
On the pictures you can also see the new dishwashing machine for the course. No more bringing your own dishes and cleaning them yourself afterwards – just pick up plate and cutlery and enjoy the service!
By meike
The building up phase for the 4th International Summer Course at the Europe Center started last weekend. Many friends came from Russia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and other countries to join the kick-off.
In beautiful sunny summer weather, the pick-ups, trucks, and forklifts were constantly driven up and down the hill with tons of wooden bars for the kitchen floor. The hardworking friends putting them together on the course site were supplied with refreshments and sun protection by others whenever it was needed. Saturday night was relaxing time – chatting and dancing in the Baucafé after looking at the plans for the new EC building.
Step by step, the kitchen floor, stairways, and some security fences as protection at the steeper parts of the grounds are being built up. All over the place the familiar beeps of the walkie-talkies could be heard… it feels like summer course a bit already! 
The course site is growing by the day – people are arriving, staying to help and enjoying each other’s company.
We all loved the family-like atmosphere and and felt at home as alyways. Thanks to the EC team and everyone involved!
The EC-addicted North Sanghas
By meike
Everyone knows that the Summer Course Team meeting has become far more than just an organizational event to discuss administrative issues. It is a meeting of old friends, and one can only imagine how strong the friendship is, that has been built up while sharing many hours of hard work, be it in the kitchen, cleaning or driving shuttle cars up and down.
The weekend started with a lecture from Kai Burmeister who shared the history of the EC project. Kai told us about the Lama’s vision, the work of the inspired people who were trying to implement that vision for almost 10 years, the success of buying of our beautiful Europe Center and of it’s running for the last 3 years.
The topic of this weekend was not only Summer Course issues, but also the main topic of the upcoming course – the start of the fund-raising campaign for the new buildings “More EC”. Stands with information about the campaign will appear on all the main courses of this summer- Karma Guen, Kuchary, Tenovice, Becke and Lolland, but the main kick-off will be at the International Summer Course.
The teams discussed not only organizational questions, but also the spirit of the Summer Course – working out of surplus, human development and our idealistic view. It is not only important to work well as separate teams, but also to be interconnected with other teams and share information.
The last day of the meeting, as is usual for this time of the year, is also the public statue exhibition at the EC. We are grateful to all the SCT meeting participants who helped us to clean, prepare the house and to represent the Lama in the most beautiful way.
By ecteam
Last Sunday we sat down with 3 of friends to talk. It was very late after a busy Summer Course Team weekend, and one of us posed a simple question – how was your day? As we started to recount each other’s day, this impressive list of things that happened in the last 24 hours appeared:
And this was just the 3 of us talking about things we were involved in mostly outside of the Summer Course team weekend program. The other 90 people attending the weekend would add much more to the list as their teams met to prepare the Summer Course: the gompa team, the transportation team, the finance team, the purchasing team, the registration team, the dharma shop, mini-market & merchandising teams, the cafeteria, the childcare, the sound team, the kitchen team, the medical team, the I-grow-EC! team… you name it.
Life’s never boring! Especially at the EC.
By Martin
Here are some beautiful photo impressions taken by Wolfgang from Hamburg during the Summer Course. Yes – there was a loooot of rain – however, clearly there was even more fun, friendship and cosiness all around!
By meike
Thanks to Matt from Australia we got some more pictures from the finishing of the course build-up that we could not possibly keep away from you.
So here’s a walk around the cafeteria tent with the “World’s Best” shop, the “Meet & Connect” area, coffee bar, the “I Grow EC” stand and Paul’s famous job center – as well as some impressions from the communication team meeting in our “Baucafe” and from the kitchen tent – with pretty much everything ready to go for the course!
By meike
Right on time for the summer course kick-off tonight – here’s some more shots taken during the last days of the build-up phase.
We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you here within the next days. However, if you cannot make it to Allgäu this time, you can still join in via live streaming from the lectures with Lama Ole during the Transmission Week and by watching the space on this blog, of course! We’ll keep you updated as well as we can.
By meike
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