Flunkyball
Last night, I tried to make a wise decision and go to bed a little earlier than I have been. I desperately needed sleep from staying out late on my birthday and getting up early for class every day. And I knew I had an activity-filled weekend ahead of me. The next day I was going to Cologne and Bonn. Then Saturday, a group of people were heading out to a castle, and I had decided to join them.
So I put on my pajamas at around 10 PM. Ryan R called me, asking what I was doing that night. I told him I was going to bed. Then I lay down and gave that first wonderful sigh of the night. You know what I'm talking about? When you're very tired and so your bed feels extra comfortable; and you know that the next however many hours are going to be devoted to sleeping and nothing else. It's the most relaxing feeling ever.
Shortly afterward, someone knocked on my door. It took a while, but I answered. It was Alex, a guy on my floor. He said some people from the floor were going to play Flunkyball, but he could see I was already in bed and told me never mind. He apologized for waking me up. I told him not to worry about it and that I actually wanted to play also. I'd heard them talking about Flunkyball earlier. It's a drinking game popular in Germany, similar to beer pong in the US. It sounded interesting and had a crazy name, so I wanted to see what it was all about. They grabbed an extra bottle of beer for me since I didn't have any of my own, and everyone needs one. We headed outside and set up on a grassy area near our dorm.
I'll try to explain Flunkyball here briefly. You play with two teams. Two or three empty bottles are set up in the center. Four to five paces in opposite directions from the middle, the teams line up. Each person sets his/her beer in front of them. Then, one at a time, teams take turns throwing a tennis ball at the bottles in the middle. Whenever one is knocked down, the team that hit the center bottle down can drink their beer as fast as they can. They stop when the other team has stood the fallen bottle back up. The goal is to be the first team to finish all their beer.
Another guy shared my beer with me since neither of us felt like drinking an entire bottle. We made a good pair. I wasn't very good at drinking beer fast. I spilled a bunch of it all over my pajamas (I never changed out of them to go outside and play Flunkyball). Our team lost; but I was definitely a valuable player. I hit the center bottles down multiple times. Since we were the losing team, we had some beer left. They told us to finish it, so I did the honors.
After our Flunkyball match, we headed back up to our floor to freshen up to go to Im Eimer, the bar in our dorm. Can you believe that? Each dorm has its own little bar! Imagine if MSU had something like that.
I decided I'd change out of my pajamas into real clothes. Down in the bar, there were only about eight people. It was pretty tiny, and with eight more of us, I could see it was gonna be a little cramped. But then I realized there was another room off to the side. It had some seating and a small dance floor. A few people had coupons for free drinks. I guess they're given out when you move in, and they hadn't used them yet. Lars asked me if I wanted a beer, said I could use one of his coupons. I said no. He told me I shouldn't turn down a beer when a German offers me one; they take it personally. So I said, sure, I'll take one. Then he told me he was Spanish anyway.
I'll admit; hanging out in that bar room was pretty fun. They had music, and I even danced some. We did the limbo. Normally, I don't care much for drinking or dancing. But I was actually enjoying myself. I just relaxed and didn't care how stupid I looked. I don't know what it is, but I feel really comfortable when I'm with the people on my floor. It's easy to be myself around them.
Finally, at around 1:00 in the morning, I went back to my room and went to bed. So much for getting a good night's sleep.
So I put on my pajamas at around 10 PM. Ryan R called me, asking what I was doing that night. I told him I was going to bed. Then I lay down and gave that first wonderful sigh of the night. You know what I'm talking about? When you're very tired and so your bed feels extra comfortable; and you know that the next however many hours are going to be devoted to sleeping and nothing else. It's the most relaxing feeling ever.
Shortly afterward, someone knocked on my door. It took a while, but I answered. It was Alex, a guy on my floor. He said some people from the floor were going to play Flunkyball, but he could see I was already in bed and told me never mind. He apologized for waking me up. I told him not to worry about it and that I actually wanted to play also. I'd heard them talking about Flunkyball earlier. It's a drinking game popular in Germany, similar to beer pong in the US. It sounded interesting and had a crazy name, so I wanted to see what it was all about. They grabbed an extra bottle of beer for me since I didn't have any of my own, and everyone needs one. We headed outside and set up on a grassy area near our dorm.
I'll try to explain Flunkyball here briefly. You play with two teams. Two or three empty bottles are set up in the center. Four to five paces in opposite directions from the middle, the teams line up. Each person sets his/her beer in front of them. Then, one at a time, teams take turns throwing a tennis ball at the bottles in the middle. Whenever one is knocked down, the team that hit the center bottle down can drink their beer as fast as they can. They stop when the other team has stood the fallen bottle back up. The goal is to be the first team to finish all their beer.
Another guy shared my beer with me since neither of us felt like drinking an entire bottle. We made a good pair. I wasn't very good at drinking beer fast. I spilled a bunch of it all over my pajamas (I never changed out of them to go outside and play Flunkyball). Our team lost; but I was definitely a valuable player. I hit the center bottles down multiple times. Since we were the losing team, we had some beer left. They told us to finish it, so I did the honors.
After our Flunkyball match, we headed back up to our floor to freshen up to go to Im Eimer, the bar in our dorm. Can you believe that? Each dorm has its own little bar! Imagine if MSU had something like that.
I decided I'd change out of my pajamas into real clothes. Down in the bar, there were only about eight people. It was pretty tiny, and with eight more of us, I could see it was gonna be a little cramped. But then I realized there was another room off to the side. It had some seating and a small dance floor. A few people had coupons for free drinks. I guess they're given out when you move in, and they hadn't used them yet. Lars asked me if I wanted a beer, said I could use one of his coupons. I said no. He told me I shouldn't turn down a beer when a German offers me one; they take it personally. So I said, sure, I'll take one. Then he told me he was Spanish anyway.
I'll admit; hanging out in that bar room was pretty fun. They had music, and I even danced some. We did the limbo. Normally, I don't care much for drinking or dancing. But I was actually enjoying myself. I just relaxed and didn't care how stupid I looked. I don't know what it is, but I feel really comfortable when I'm with the people on my floor. It's easy to be myself around them.
Finally, at around 1:00 in the morning, I went back to my room and went to bed. So much for getting a good night's sleep.
Comments
It is not so surprising that the winners drink more in German drinking games either. (: