Saturday, March 3 2012

Last night, I went out with my German host sister for an authentic European night out. I was not only the lone Texan in the group, but the only American as well. Luckily for me, most young Germans speak English very well. Anna and I took off by bike to the Bonn Hauptbahnhof to meet with her friend Julia. While I went and got my Eurail pass stamped, they pulled a clever trick. Apparently, University students who live in Cologne have a pass from Bonn to Cologne that allows them and one extra rider on the train. So Anna and Julia talked with a few young people and had gotten their passes for free in no time. I suppose it's all about knowing how to work the system. We talked on the train for a bit and by 8:30 we were in Cologne. We took a few trams to get to a grocery store where I saw this:

That's right, Duff Beer: the same stuff Homer Simpson drinks. Notice on the top left corner "The Legendary." This beer was especially cool because it is from a cartoon, but the taste is nowhere near legendary. However, I had to buy one just because of the name. I've never seen a Duff Beer in America, there's only once place that sells "Duff Beer" and that's Duff's Famous Wings in Buffalo, NY. I checked out wikipedia, apparently they sell Duff Beer a few places in Europe, Mexico and Australia. Anyway, it was quite the treat to see that in a grocery store. Once we finished there, we headed to her friend's house whom she plays basketball with. There were a few people over there and everyone was really friendly. I feel like since I've been in Germany my charades skills are improving, but my German is not. I can get through an introduction sentence and ask where the bathroom is, but that's all I can without having to completely butcher the grammar and take 5 minutes to think of the vocabulary necessary. Everyone would be talking in German while I listen attentively and pick up a few words here and there. Later that evening we went to a club which was alright. To be honest, I had more fun sitting around talking with the German folk than I did at the club. The music wasn't all that great and it was really smokey. We left around 3 to catch the tram to the train station to make sure we didn't miss the 4am train back to Bonn. Once we were back, Anna and I grabbed some awesome pizza at this place right across the street from the Hbf. I believe it's open 24/7, and would highly recommend it. Great pizza for a good price.

I realize this isn't the most cultural experience of the trip, but I did get to mingle with some German folk and they even invited me to come play basketball on Tuesday. I would consider the weekend a success.

Until next time...