Ah, the social life.

Well… let’s just say the last week has been quite interesting. Being that I was so academically minded last week, I decided it was time to celebrate in the only way you can in Trier: all out. When you party in Trier (or anywhere else in Germany, as I have been told), you typically “pre-game” with friends beginning around 9pm before going out to whatever clubs and/or bars for the evening around midnight. If you do not begin beforehand, you’re likely to spend an arm and a leg when you go out; drinks, like in America, are quite expensive in said establishments.

Even so, I’ve found the time table for “college life” (or here, “uni life”) is quite later than what I am used to in America; typically, in my experience, clubs and bars close between 2-3am, depending on the city and atmosphere. In Savannah, for example, all establishments close around 3am as a general rule. Here, though, there apparently are not ordinances telling establishments when they must conclude the evening’s business, and if the party is “hopping,” last call will not occur until well after daylight.

That being said, the Germans can certainly drag out a good party. Only the Irish and a few Italians I have met can “hang” with the German people. Of course, I include myself in this statement being that I am both Irish and Italian, and I must say, it’s quite fun trying to learn German from those who have been partying all night.

Note here, also, that I am referring to college life in a vague and politically correct way: partying. Americans tend to look down on these activities as a general rule… not in the sense of actually participating, but in the sense of feeling long-term partying is immoral or somehow bad. Here, though, the thought process is far different; it’s almost a competition (as is a common German cultural standing) to see who is able to party hardest and still function for the necessary events the next day.

So, being that I’m in Germany and do not have to be politically correct for them, I can confidently say that partying entails what we would consider colossal amounts of drinking, dancing, and “hooking up,” so to say. Does this occur in America? Of course! But here, people openly embrace the activities in daily conversations with little regard to how other people would judge them. In fact, many of both sexes even brag about their forays the night before to complete strangers, whereas an American would typically do such a thing only to close friends in an attempt to “keep up their image.”

Again, remember here I am generalizing; I, for one, tend to spend my weekends doing the same thing as the Germans are, as do many other Americans at a similar level. The biggest difference, aside from the mentality of others toward night life, is that although the Germans can party hard (going back to the politically correct mentality), I believe that they are able to function in sober society to a much higher level afterward than many Americans I know. The saying “play hard, pay hard” (thank you Grandmama) holds true for them, but I have seen very few of them allow the night before to change their plans for the next day. I’m not quite sure how, but apparently they’re good at acting immune to hangovers.

The alcohol here, though, seems different too… as hard as that is to believe. Booze is booze, but for some reason even the cheapest of beers or liquors here result in a far less-bad hangover than my experiences with low-grade alcohols stateside. I’m not quite sure why this is, other than taking off my hat for their embracing of alcohol as a non-negative recreational activity. Call me crazy, but I believe this is why America seems to have a more negative stance on the effects of alcohol and socializing publically: the general mindset of the activity is relatively negative, so when Americans party there is less of a knowledge of the boundaries of what is “too much.”

So, this social commentary aside, the weekend consisted of several different parties. The local club Exhaus (the one I said I’d probably avoid) had a huge party last Thursday (April 28) that was quite fun. Then, Friday came and went with a bit of school work and celebrating in the evening. Saturday, the local Trier rugby team (an unofficial minor league) won the match in town (which I attended), so all night (and until dawn) consisted of celebrating for the victory. Essentially, the whole weekend was similar to a New Year’s celebration in America… just randomly placed the week after Easter.

In fact, I somehow managed to lose my keys, student id card, phone, flip flops, glasses, and even my hat was stolen by a few girls. I’ve recovered the keys and phone, but the others are still MIA… the price you pay! I don’t feel too bad, being that I lose things all the time regardless of whether or not partying is involved…

At the same time, though, I’d say the good times from the weekend have been more than worth it. For example, during the Exhaus party night, I ended up being the only dude out of twelve girls pregaming between two places. For whatever reason, they decided that, me being the only boy, I should be carried into the building from outside. Literally. It was great success, likely a highlight of my life.

Sunday was also quite special for the Europeans. For reasons I cannot understand, the first of May is a reason to celebrate; many Germans had what they called a “beer walk,” whereby hordes of them loaded up hordes of beer and walked along the Mozel River to various destinations. The goal was to drink all of the beer prior to reaching the destination, then try to find their way back to a pre-set bar. Yes, typically German, and needless to say it was general debauchery.

I, however, was invited alongside roughly 30 other exchange and other students to one of the Finnish students’ “Vappu” celebrations. This celebrated the same concept as the German beer walk, but we celebrated more with various foods (especially some lovely homemade Finnish doughnuts) and sports. It was quite lovely; we spent the better part of the day singing Credence Clearwater Revival songs with the international students, eating, drinking lightly, and playing sports. I had not played volleyball since the 7^th grade, but I made up for it in the three hours or so I played yesterday!

My friend from grade school arrived Saturday as well, and is staying for a week. He is studying in England at Leicaster University (pronounced Lester, as I was aptly informed), and I will be going to visit him from May 12-17^th. I’m hoping to show him a good time in the city; Trier is truly a beautiful place, and it’s hard not to have fun!

Today, I have my dreadfully long day. I am actually typing this through the only lecture-style course I am taking out of my nine, which are updated as follows:

Kurt Vonnegut (an author)
British Linguistics and Society
Deutsch Phonetics (beginners’)
Business English Presentations (speaking class)
American Minorities in Film
American Speech and Rhetoric (Masters-level class)
Late Modern English Linguistics (Masters-level class)
Differential Psychology (meets only 4 times; class on “creativity”)
Northwest [Americas] Coast Writing (meets only 4 times in June)

So yes… I have nine classes. This course on British linguistics had promise to be interesting, but unfortunately the Scot teacher is more monotone than an automated message machine. I am taking it, though, because I get 3 of my 24 needed ETCS points to transfer back to America for just sitting in the class—no assignments or tests! The remainder of the classes will likely provide me with more than 24 ETCS points, but I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry; I’m honestly not sure of how many points each class gives, being that they depend on many factors including the level of the class, assignments/papers completed, and tests. But, even the teachers do not know, so I do not feel too dumb.

I’m also doing an internship with the Trier Center for American Studies (TACS) through the professor from my American Rhetoric class. Thus far, I am assigned office hours Mondays from 12-2pm (if needed), and am in charge of organizing a list documenting names, studies, and pictures of the fifteen or so interns in the office this semester. As the semester progresses, we will all help out with the ten or twelve speaking events organized by the office. Again, I’m not totally sure what I’m doing her; I doubt this will allow me to knock-out the internship requirement through AASU at home. But, I figured it’s a great way to make new contacts… and an internship (especially abroad) always looks good on a resume!

Tonight, I have been asked to be the unofficial photographer of the Multicultural Concert I mentioned last week. I’ve been deemed the “Erasmus Paparazzi” by my friends; due to my honestly fantastic camera, I elect myself (and others elect me) to take pictures at all of our events. Tonight’s event should provide several interesting photographs as well, and I do love to take pictures! Even so, I’ll be tired; I have class from 10am-8pm straight, with little more than 15 minutes between each.

Who knows what this week will entail; I’m know for my lack of planning. It makes life so much more fun that way! In any event, I’m sure it will be another wonderful week in Trier; it’s hard not to have a good time here!