one with the germans

--Before I begin let me first explain the drinking rules and regulations in Bavaria. If you are between 16 and 18 you can drink beer and wine and go out to clubs, however you must leave the club by 12 (no later). (This curfew rule is surprisingly followed very well by teenagers, as if you are caught under 18 and in a club past 12 you are brought home in a cop car). If you are 18 and older you can drink whatever you like (including hard liquor) and stay out as long as you like. --
This weekend was an especially exciting weekend here in Germany because not only did I have a great weekend, but I had a great weekend right here in Ingolstadt! (quick reminder, Ingolstadt is the closest main town to Dorndorf.)

This weekend after work on Friday I packed up my overnight bag, grabbed my sleeping bag and headed into Ingolstadt for a weekend full of plans and adventures. Friday night I went to the church youth group as I have done the past few weekends. The youth group is obviously all in German but as I have made a few friends from the church weekend last week I was able to sit and chatt with some of the girls as the night went on. After church Marie (a 16 year old girl I that goes to the youth group) and I headed over to her brothers flat in downtown Ingolstadt to get ready for our evening out (We slept at her brothers flat so we didn’t have to go home the same night).

The two of us first headed out to a small party being held as a school fundraiser at a club nearby. Now for all us Canadians this is a very odd thing. There is no way that a high school would allow a fundraiser to be held at a club, selling alchol, in order to raise funds for the 12th grade end of the year party. But alas this is Germany so why not. To explain this party a little more, anyone could come (you didn’t have to go to the high school), so there was a very mixed crowd. Anywhere from 16 year olds to 20 year olds were there, even a few teachers showed up. (Again a more German thing than Canadian, running into teachers on a night out. Teachers often will go to the same clubs as some of their students, so it isn’t unheard of to end up drinking with your teachers, sometimes your teacher will even buy a round for everyone!) The party only sold beer and wine because OBVIOULY, you shouldn’t encourage young people to drink “hard” alcohol, that would just be irrespirable for a school organized event.
The party was ok but both Marie and I wanted to check out one of the busier clubs so we went back to Niles’ (Marie’s brother) apartment to wait for Sarah (Marie’s sister) so the three of us could all go out together.

Once Sarah was arrived we walked over to Suxul, a club with techno in the basement and hip-hop/dance music on the main floor. Suxul was very fun and we got to dance the night away. The only thing that wasn’t so fun was the mass amounts of smoking. People smoke a lot of cigerattes here, so in the techno part of the club it started to get a little hard to breathe. It being in the basement the air couldn’t really escape as quickly so it just turned into a mass second hand smoke cloud! As a result I smelled like a chain smoker for the rest of the night and even the next day despite my attempts to wash the smell out of my hair. YUM!

Once we decided to call it a night we walked back to Niles’ apartment where we would be sleeping for the night. Niles has a one room flat with a small bathroom. With so little space Marie took the bed and Sarah and I slept on the floor. This was no probable for the three of us, however, when, around 7 in the morning Niles came home with 2 of his friends we then had 4 people sharing the floor and Niles pushed Marie over and they slept head to toe in the bed. Let’s just say it was a little cozy.

When I woke up Saturday morning I packed up my things and left the apartment around 12 with Marie and Sarah. After dropping my things off in my car and saying goodbye to the girls, who had to head back home, I made my way down-town to have breakfast. I sat and had a bagel and read my book as I waited to meet up with two other girls from the church, Johanna and Deborah.

Johanna and Deborah had invited me to go shopping earlier in the week and as I had already made plans to go for coffer with a friend of mine on Saturday it worked out perfectly to go out with them the same day. When the two girls arrived around 1 o’clock we shopped and talked, as girls like to do! Both of the girls speak perfect English, having gone to an international school when they were young, so it was nice to not have to think too much in German.

Before we were done shopping we stopped for a quick bite to eat and then stopped in a few more stores before I had to leave them and meet up with someone else for coffee. Now this may sound like I am Miss.Popular here in Germany, going from friend to friend all weekend but let me make something very clear, this is not only my first time going out with these girls but I really have made very few friends here in Germany up until now. This is not to say I was totally alone, Jutta and Holgar have been great friends but they are a little older than me (they have 2 kids over the age of 13) so going out with girls my age here in Germany is not only a luxury but a “first” for my year abroad.

Last but certainly not least of my adventures of this past weekend was coffee with a girl I randomly met in a bakery a few weeks ago. She was working at the bakery and when she found out I was a girl living in Dorndorf who doesn’t speak German a few questions were raised. After we talked for a while I found out that she also did time abroad only she went to France. She said she understood how it was to have so few friends and gave me her number in case I ever wanted to get together for coffee. So we decided to meet for coffee on this particular Saturday afternoon; and it went very well. Having no real idea of who this girl was I was a little worried that things might not go as well as hoped. However we got along really well and enjoy a lot of the same things, we both run, she skis and I snowboard etc.

After all this excitement I headed home Saturday night to go to bed early. As you can see I once again had a very eventful weekend full of new adventures and new experiences. I can’t yet call Germany home but I can definitely call it a place I love, and I am growing to love more every day.

P.S I’m sorry if this post sounded a little squished together but I wanted to re-cap my weekend as best I could without dragging it out too long.

Today: laundry, pumpkin waffles, missin’ my homeland