Well… first and foremost, let me say this: I am proud of myself for drinking a German under the table. That being said, most Germans put Americans (and every nationality) to shame when it comes to the consumption of alcohol. Seriously, beer is served in basically every establishment, store or restaurant, as a staple. As far as I’m concerned, beer is water to the Germans.
So, with beer being water, “parties” in the American context become the norm. Social barriers in America existing when you do not know someone do not exist; my experiences thus far show that Europeans know no stranger. In fact, those most “standoffish” towards me are Americans… typical of any given American high school girls movie. As would be expected, most Americans are sticking to groups of other Americans, and for reasons uknown to me, several seem to have no interest in talking to me. It’s rather amusing; our nationality is fitting the stereotype!
But no matter. This oddity allows me to meet and greet with ever increasing numbers of other nationalities, and I must say… they amuse me to no end! I am finding it quite easy to meet new people in Trier, although many events arranged by the university make it even easier to meet other international students.
For example, the university has arranged for the entire group of “erasmas” students (a term used for European exchange students, of which I am technically not yet get called so regardless) to go on three wine tastings and a pub crawl to date, not to mention the city tours and other random events aimed to make meeting other international students easy. In America, having a university organizing any event revolving around alcohol would be unheard of. In Germany, however, it appears to be unheard of NOT to organize such events!
Today’s schedule consisted of an early rise bus ride to a city up the Mozel River a bit (whose name escapes me), highlighting a tour of a thousand year old castle in English. Oh, the castle was impressive; it sat atop a picturesque hill overlooking the Mozel River, and entering it felt as though time reversed a thousand years. Unfortunately, my camera died after only a few pictures, but several friends have plenty of pictures for me to steal.
The city itself reminded me of Helen, Georgia, although I would never tell a German that; the fact that Americans would build a town for the sole purpose of being a tourist destination modeled after a German town would likely insult the historic value of Germany. Even so, the buildings all resembled quaint village homes frequented in American Medieval films. Lovely is the only way I can think of to describe the city.
Upon return to Trier, we found out we needed to walk farther than normal back to the dormitories due to the closure of the city center for protests. Apparently, the conservative party in Germany (referred to as Nazis by one of my tutors) like to have demonstrations in the form of hundreds of people in high-volume areas. In response, liberal Germans try to double the number of people by having counter-demonstrations at the same time. Essentially, thousands of demonstrators come out for reasons unknown to me to parade about their ideals, closing many of the city’s streets. Germans are apparently far more politically minded than the Americans I know.
Tonight, the university has given passes to all of the international students for free entry to a popular Trier night club near the historic cathedral in the city center. Again, the university has organized a socializing event for us revolving around the life of the party! Although I have not been to this club before, I can confidently speculate the presence of primarily American music, which will make me feel right at home.
After all, the Germans tend to gravitate towards our pop music culture. I make no references to that fact.
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