Camp Impressions

Coming soon!

I’m not sure what compelled me to look up astronomical camps on that random evening and click on the IAYC website, but what I do know is that it was one of the best decisions of my life. I remember how nervous I was on the way to the camp...

On the first day of camp, I was asked to describe myself using one sentence. Attempting to describe IAYC in one sentence, or even in just some pages, is impossible. It’s hard to describe the way it makes you feel during and after it, it’s hard to describe the warm...

Going to IAYC 2022 was my first time being on a plane alone. I had never been away from home for that long by myself, let alone on another continent. When I arrived in Germany, my suitcase wasn’t there, it had been lost on the way. Another participant kindly offered...

It is always very hard to put into words your impressions after such an indescribable experience. But on the other hand, it is an attempt to release all these uniquely warm feelings and memories that, hopefully, would push someone to apply here as it worked one day for me. IAYC...

I'm writing this review just a month after my first IAYC. Every time I talk with one of my friends, I end up talking about this camp and I tell countless anecdotes. It's surprising for them how I never get bored and also how I always find new stories! However,...

To Irati, Klaus, Aitor, Dan and all the sponsors giving me the grant for the camp, _Passengers, please tie your seat belt, we are going to land at Bajaras airport in the next few minutes..._ Never before have I felt so nervous like this time. This is the first time...

Writing about the IAYC nearly just after arriving home is difficult, since all the memories are still so recent that it is hard to find the exact words to describe what this amazing experience has meant for me. It all started quite a few months ago when I decided to...

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...

1 The Bubble-Universe 2014 is my third camp here in the IAYC. When I first applied I was expecting your everyday science camp that is more like a summer school than a place to go to and have fun, but it turned out to be so much more. When you...

The IAYC experience is absolutely remarkable; I discovered more than I could have imagined in the three weeks of camp. The IAYC is a family of friends that are passionately curious about the universe. Whether you are a competent astronomer at a graduate level, or just curious about constellations, the...

Thinking about the IAYC now that I am at home with all these pictures of us smiling and laughing, now, without the noise of 80 people talking and making jokes all the time, like a soundtrack, now, in a room by myself so far from Eichendorf - sometimes I think...

By the time I arrived at the Třemešek camphouse all was eerily quiet. It seemed that most people had already gone to sleep, or the oldies were catching up somewhere, unbeknownst to me. I had no idea what an oldie was, but they sounded rather intimidating to say the least....

_For a minute there I lost myself,_ _I lost myself..._ First IAYC – for me it was a big question mark, especially that I had no clue what to expect. Probably that is the reason why as a newcomer I was greeted by the general coordinator pointing at my three...

I heard about IAYC almost by chance. During my first year as a Physics undergraduate, I received an email offering 3 weeks of astronomical adventure in the Polish mountains. Intrigued, I did some digging and contacted some past participants - all of whom were very enthusiastic. Unfortunately, I only received...

Sixty five travellers through the world and through life, and passionate lovers of the starry night skies have met in the centre of the world for those three weeks from 22.07-09.08, Sayda - Germany. For a newbie that I was, this was an unforgettable experience that I tried to catch...

Allow me to tell you the IAYC-story through the eyes of a first time participant. So sit back, relax and prepare to be swept away into the wonderful world of stars, comets and constellations. You see, it all started way back on a partly cloudy day in the Czech Republic...

Forty-second to find it, forty-two being the answer. Surrounded by woods and great people, lack of sleep and lack of tiredness at the same time. Symbols and traditions at each step and yet new ones jumping into existence right before your amazed eyes. What all can happen when you take...

5...4...3...1... OFFBLAST! Mmm, 2005 - I guess it will take quite some time for people who were there to forget this year - the year of the mushrooms! All the conditions were there: the house was a bit too cozy and the weather was a bit too rainy... And that's...

As I had missed the IAYC 2003 in Klingenthal, I felt a bit like a lost soul coming back home. But it was surprising how much I had forgotten about my beloved home... The first hole in my memory was forgetting how much an IAYC asks of a person physically....

There used to be a tower in the middle of a forest. Just at the border between Germany and Czech Republic. Somewhere. I don't know if it is still there, but I guess so. I hope so. It was one of the best places ever to see a sunrise. Imagine...

IAYC 2002 was definitely blue. But not some ordinary blue, neither the patented blue kept among other places in the Cologne museum. It was blue da be dee da. It became blue after a ferocious fight on the corridor of the camp house; weapons being sizeable loudspeakers. Even when the...

IAYC 1999 was a really special camp. It took place in a small village called Vép in Hungary, in the central-line of the totality of the solar eclipse. Many people wanted to see the eclipse, so this IAYC was really huge. It had about 100 participants and in the middle...

I read about IAYC 1998 in the German astronomy magazine 'Sterne und Weltraum'. Not knowing what to expect, I decided to apply to the camp, for the first time. Of course, quite some information was available on the camp's website. And although I knew it would be only four hours...