I don't have too much time, as we have our class finals in the morning, but here's a brief update about our adventures in Cologne last weekend and some notes about this week so far too!
(Side Note- When I refer to "Cologne", I am speaking about the town (in German "Köln"). No, we did not adventure into the body fragrance geared toward men. That simply does not make sense, and frankly, I don't think it would be very enjoyable)
Friday, July 27th
Schnitzel. Our (Anna, Träci and I) first night in the city we went to this restaurant recommended by the hostel front desk employees- adorably named "Oma Kleinmann". This place is known for its schnitzel, and after eating there, I understand why. This stuff was so good, and so massive. The schnitzel portion that they served me was flowing over the plate it came on. I decided to switch it up by getting it smothered in curry and pineapples, because, well, why not? This stuff put us in a food coma like I've never experienced- the three of us waddled back to the hostel and passed out at 8:30 pm. This is something I have not done since age 8, so well done Oma Kleinmann, well done.
Saturday, July 28th
We woke up at 9:30, after a solid THIRTEEN HOURS of sleep. I still don't understand how that is possible. But we dragged our lethargic bottoms out of bed and ventured into the city- in the pouring rain. But, as we have discussed before, a little (or a lot of) rain never stops us, and we made it all the way to the Chocolate Museum without melting. Cologne has this large museum that is all about our favourite sweet treat, and it's pretty cool. It covers the history of chocolate, the process to make it, different types and fillings, etc. My favourite part was watching the chocolate-makers create the delicacies in front of us. Plus, we got free chocolate, and who could pass that up?
After the Chocolate Museum, we wandered over to the famous Cologne Dom- the giant cathedral that is the most well known landmark in the city. It was unbelievable. I mean, this thing is incredible. It's a breathtaking gothic church, and it is absolutely gorgeous. I'm really glad that we went to Cologne and were able to see it, because I would have definitely regretted missing that.
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| The outside of the gorgeous Köln Dom |
Well, the meals came, in those red plastic baskets that we all know and love, and they were... well... not quite American. The jalapeño poppers were served with a tangy BBQ sauce, which seemed a little bizarre, but understandable. We moved on to the chicken tenders, assuming they would come with BBQ, ranch, honey mustard, or something of the sorts, but instead discovered that it came with a side of thai dressing, which was a little strange, and not very typical for America. The strangest were the mozzarella sticks that came not with tomato sauce, or even ranch dressing, as usual, but rather with curry. Yes, curry.
But wait... that's not even the greatest part. We each ordered a different long drink- mohitos, cosmos, what have you- and instead of coming garnished with fruit or tiny umbrellas like we expected and were used to, they came with the garnish that apparently we all use for our drinks in the good ole' U S of A... marshmallows. I think it's safe to say our server/umpire was a little confused when he set the drinks down and we immediately erupted into fits of laughter.
After finishing our almost-American meal, we giggled our ways back into the city center and met up with the group that was going on the pub crawl. It was a good sized group- about 20 of us from the US, the UK, South Africa, and other EU countries. It was a fun night, but not as fun as I had in mind. Let me recap...
WAIT- before I do there is something VERY weird that I need to address. There are so many bachelor/bachelorette parties in Cologne that I was actually scared and confused. I am not talking one or two parties of people in crowns getting drinks at a bar. I mean, it literally seemed like EVERYONE was a part of one. And you can totally tell because they are all dressed in extremely weird and elaborate costumes and they run up to each other asking people of the opposite sex to do bizarre tasks. Anna and I, for example, waxed a full grown mans legs. That happened, and I will need years of therapy to recover. And this happened all day and all night. When we went to go meet for the pub crawl the reason that the guides could tell that we were going with them and were not part of a bachelorette party was because we were one of the only people in the area not dressed in drag/penis jewelry/matching shirts. I have never seen anything like it.
Alright- back to the pub crawl. We met in the main Old Town square, which was hopping with already drunk people, and we figured we would be starting at one of the bars there. Instead, they took us to a street parallel to the square, where there was literally no one else. But it was still in their happy hour window, so we didn't complain and got a drink. For the pub crawl, we were to get a free shot at each bar, but we wouldn't get to choose it- instead the pub crawl guides just ordered a trey and it was a take-it-or-leave-it senario. The first shot was just a really sugary shot, but at least it tasted alright.
When the guides told us it was time to move to the next location, we were all excited to finally get to see the bars in the Old Town and to be somewhere with actual people. Instead, they dragged us about a mile (not an exaggeration) to the other side of town. In the pouring rain. Every once and a while they would stop to give us another shot, but once again, they were more like shots of sugar. There is this one drink here called Erdbeerlimes, and it is a thick, yummy drink that is like a strawberry-lime syrup with a wee bit of alcohol in it. Yes, it tastes good, and no, there is not very much alcohol in it, but may you be warned- this stuff is the devil. Once the massive amount of sugar seeps into your blood stream, you are on a one way train to Hangover-ville my friend: population, you (and probably a toilet).
By the time we made it to the 2nd bar I resembled a wet dog. So much for spending all that time on my hair! But soggy-doggy or not, we were determined to have fun. The guides heard some of the other participants complaining about the lame shots they were providing, so they opted to give us something a little more strong. It was straight vodka. Gross, BUT there was an interesting twist. One you slammed the shot, you had to eat a lemon that was dipped half in sugar and half in coffee grounds. It was interesting, and surprisingly good!
After the coffee shot and another drink, we moved to the 3rd bar and were finally starting to feel a little tingly in the nose. The third bar was the best, and had Karaoke. Usually, I abhor karaoke, but I was feeling particularly brave being in a new city with new friends (okay... and maybe the vodka was helping a little bit too...) so I signed the three of us up to sing. They called us up, the house was packed, and we owned it. I'm telling you, we we're rock-stars that night. When singing Karaoke, one obviously sings "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, and so thats what we did. The bar went wild. People were cheering and singing along, and I'm pretty sure this one blonde girl in the front was crying.
A couple songes later, one girl decided that singing some Andrea Bocelli was a good idea. I know we're a tough act to follow, but really? That's what you're going to sing to drunk people at a karaoke bar? It was very awkward, so our guides took us to the next place. And thats when things got weird.
We approached the 4th bar, and our guides told us we needed to be really quite. We we're going into an underground art gallery that served drinks at night, and we needed to act calm and be very quiet.
I'm sorry, but you cannot take a group of rowdy foreigners, who's sole intentions for the night are to get super drunk and cause trouble, and who have already been consuming mass amounts of alcohol at the three previous bars, on a pub crawl to an art gallery. I mean, maybe if this was the st place we had gone things would have been different, but staying super quite at this point in the night was just not an option for all of us. Plus, the drinks were super pricy, and the art was super weird, and they weren't giving us any free shots, so we sobered up a bit, got some food, and stumbled back to the hostel.
Sunday, July 29th
Naturally, because the pub crawl guides were mean and only fed us those sugary, syrupy drinks, I was very, very hungover. Not cool.
Tuesday, July 31st
Last night, Anna, Träci and I all sat on Anna's porch with 2 of Anna's roommates and one of their friends. We just spoke Germlish (German/English) and laughed and had a really, really good time. It made me so proud of my time here. I really am going to miss just sitting on that porch, drinking wine with new friends, and laughing until by belly aches in the warm Freiburg air.
Wednesday, August 1st
We (our class) woke up early and took the train to the starting point of our hike. The hike was pretty challenging- it was steep and very, very hot. But it was amazing. The Schwarzwald (Black Forest) is absolutely stunning. The whole way next to the trail there are little waterfalls and a river that followed us, and we had to cross a dozen or so bridges. Anna, Träci and I ended up hanging out with our professor, JT, for most of it. It was really great.
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| On the hike :) |
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| Some of the cheese we tasted at the cheese farm |
Only a few more days left here. I started packing a bit last night, and that was really weird. Freiburg is really feeling like home, and knowing that I have to leave in 5 days is super surreal.
Until Next Time-
Meggie
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