Its Not Even the Weekend Yet?

Thursday passed without any notable event. Roberto left in the morning and I hung out until German class. I had been trying to contact Ricardo all day because my bag was still in his apartment from the night before but I was unsuccessful. I arrived for German class early, as per usual, and met Lorraine. She had left her things at Ricardo's too and was equally as concerned. She decided to try him one more time via phone and miracle of all miracles he picked up! He said Roberto had stopped by just now and taken all of our bags.

Unfortunately Roberto had just left and would be a little late. I waited a while then decided to go downstairs to my class, knowing I would see Roberto during the break. I slipped in late and spent the first half of the lesson armed only with a pen. Fortunately a very nice Taiwanese girl lent me a piece of paper for the exercises. When I saw Roberto holding my bag during the break I could have hugged him! We chatted until class resumed and the second half passed much more quickly. I went home after class to do homework and hopefully sleep a full night.

The next day progressed as expected, German class in the afternoon, home afterwards. I ate a quick dinner and went back to Ricardo's as he and Lorraine had promised to make caipirinhas. I was super-excited! I had caipirinhas when I was in Brazil two winters ago and they were the best! On the train ride there Roberto called me and asked to pick up some ice. After a little mix-up with the bus line I found a petrol (gas) station and bought crushed ice for 3 Euros and lugged the thing two blocks to Ricardo's place. I met Alena from the Czech Republic outside and we buzzed in.

When we arrived I had a surprise! Lorraine was making caipirinhas out of all kinds of fruit! In Brazil I had only had the traditional caipirinha which was mixed with limes but Lorraine had two ready, one with kiwi, and one with grapes. They were awesome! We sat and played a lively game of Circle of Death, with the girls occasionally getting up to mix some new drinks for the group. The game was a hit and soon everyone was laughing and shouting at each other for breaking a rule or just because.

The caipirinha crew!

Around 10:00 Ricardo told us we would have to go out since that was the curfew in his building. We waited at the tram station for Marina the Russian, who was running a bit late. When she got there we took the tram to Zülpicher Platz. There we ran into what seemed like a 100 international students and German buddies. Apparently their favorite way to pass the time was to stand in front of an old church and drink on the street (completely legal in Germany). There was talk of going somewhere and I was of course down for going to a club but the talk didn't amount to anything. We stayed for 5 hours outside that church, chatting and occasionally leaving to get more beverages. Martin from the Czech Republic got pleasantly drunk and was excitedly chatting with everyone. It was very amusing to see him saunter over to you with a giant grin on his face and slur his usually impressive English.

By 1 am I had started to get hungry. I went with a small group to a Dürner shop across the street from the church. It was very good and I sat and chatted with the people who accompanied me. After our meal we decided it was time to go and left for home, each in separate groups. I rode home with Alexia and we had another insightful chat before getting off the tram and departing for our respective homes.

On Saturday I slept in a bit before getting a Facebook message from Lorraine to meet in the park on campus. It was a beautiful day and the weather forecast did not hold many more like this so we decided to take advantage of it. I met a large group of students at the park. Most of them were either Spanish-speaking, or Portuguese-speaking. The only other person not in either of these groups was Becki from Hungary. We laid out a blanket and talked, did German homework, and read. The weather was great and the park packed with students, adults, children, and dogs.

Our group (minus Roberto who is taking the picture)

The park with a telecommunications tower in the background

After an hour or two we decided to split up and get dinner, then reconvene in the park later. I went home and ate dinner before going back to the park. There I met the usual group and walked with Roberto and Lorraine to a Kiosk to get them drinks. I refrained from drinking that night mainly for monetary reasons. When we got back to the park Ricardo and Becki tried to organize a game of Circle of Death but the group had grown so large it had little success. Finally we broke into smaller groups and chatted the night away. It was a calm night and that seemed to be ok with everyone there. 

Around 2 am everyone decided to disperse. A small group wanted to go to a club (I later learned that they never made it) but I walked all the way home with Roberto because we had missed our train. We were both planning on getting up in the morning to take a trip with the international students club to the city of Bonn so we said goodnight (or Buenas noches) and went to bed.