Social life
I went out and did something almost every evening last week. Monday, some of the American students were going to the Irish pub in town to watch the soccer match. I forget who it was between; I wasn't even facing the screen. Afterward, people headed next door to some club with Latin music to go dancing. I was too tired, so I just went back to my dorm.
Tuesday night, my floor was cooking an authentic German food for dinner (I'm not even sure how to spell it): Ribbelkuchen. It was potato pancakes with applesauce on top. Apples and potatoes sounded a little weird together to me, but it was actually really good. The potatoes warmed up the applesauce, making it very delicious. They said you see this often served at fairs.
Jaimie, one of the American students here with the UROP program, had made dinner that night for friends also. I had been invited and really wanted to go; but I also didn't want to miss my floor dinner. I actually tried to go to Jaimie's, but I didn't really know where her dorm was. I heard she lived by the Uniklinik, so I was going to try to take the bus out there and figure it out. But I got on the wrong bus, of course! I always mix up the 3A and 3B! No matter how many times I make the same mistake, I will never learn! Sometimes, I'm at the bus stop and I see one or the other coming. I have to think fast whether or not it's the one I want, before it pulls away and I'm stuck waiting another 15 minutes. I usually just get on and then realize it's the wrong route. But this time, I knew I wanted the 3A. Then I saw the 3B coming. "Not my bus..." I thought to myself. But on the top screen on the front of the bus, it said "UNIKLINIK" indicating that that's the next big stop it's headed towards. "Well, maybe this is my bus..." I thought and got on. But when it started driving, it was not in the direction toward the Uniklinik. I got off at the next stop, and by that point I was too frustrated with the buses to try again, so I just went back to my dorm. I'm actually glad that bus incident happened. Eating dinner with my floor was probably better than with the American students. Sometimes I wish my fellow Americans didn't drink and smoke so much. I'm slowly feeling their influence. One of these days, they're going to peer pressure me into getting completely wasted or something. Some people went to Amsterdam last weekend. I wasn't invited, but who cares? I just missed out on smoking some pot.
Wednesday, I tried to make the brownies from the mix I'd bought the previous week. But they didn't turn out very well. They were a little overcooked and too "cakey." I guess I couldn't measure the ingredients too precisely since I didn't have a measuring cup. And I used the cardboard baking pan that came with the box instead of something nicer made of glass or metal; that could have been part of it. That was disappointing; I was looking forward to brownies for dinner and sharing them with my floor. Chris wouldn't let me throw them away; he said leave them out and people would eat them.
Then, I headed over to near the sports complex for a party called Schau am Bau. It's put on by the civil engineers at RWTH. I'd heard more than one person talking about it in the week leading up, so I was interested to see what it would be like. There was a portable stage with a band, and a place to buy drinks; it was very similar to the party the previous weekend in Krefeld, except it was mostly student-aged people here. I decided going alone had been a dumb idea, so I went back to my dorm to find someone. But the place was empty. As I was headed back out, I got on the elevator at exactly the same time as Ryan R and Hani. They were heading to Schau am Bau, so I joined them. I had a few drinks there: some beer with lemonade thing. It was really cold out, and I had class the next morning, so I was anxious to leave. I think I might be a little sick; I've been coughing a decent amount and am always very tired. I saw my brownie pan sitting in the kitchen that night when I came back. There were only a few left, so I polished them off. They tasted a lot better after coming back from Schau am Bau for some reason.
Thursday was the next German soccer match. I stayed at my institute after I was done working. Some people were watching it in the party room there. Unfortunately it was raining a little, but someone braved the weather and barbecued some meat. I had some wurst and drank a beer. Drinking with your work colleagues can be a little weird, but it was fun. Germany lost; it was sad.
The MSU guys and I had been talking about going to Munich that weekend, but train tickets were too expensive. We decided on Maastricht and possibly Luxembourg instead. I didn't know when we were leaving, and I was going to call someone as soon as it was a reasonable hour on Friday morning. Then, I got a call from Ryan R saying they were at the bus station and leaving soon. Buses left every half hour, they were going to leave and I could catch up. What!? "Don't leave without me!" I pleaded as I crammed some stuff into my backpack, trying to pack in under two minutes. We weren't sure if we'd spend the night out there or just come back to Aachen, so I threw in my pajamas, toothbrush, etc. just in case. I went as fast as I could; I was on the bus toward the train station/bus station, when Ryan R called again, asking where I was. He said they were gonna take a train instead from platform one at 11:32, and they'd already bought me a ticket. I had about 10 minutes to make it to the station at that point. I can't believe how slowly that bus went! Finally, we arrived at the Hauptbanhof. As I was sprinting up the stairs to the tracks, I got a third phone call. "You'd better hurry up! We're leaving like now!" There I was, at the top of the stairs. I leaped on the train, and not ten seconds later, we pulled out of the station. Phew! Just made it!
We had to switch trains once, and Matt looked at our tickets wrong, so we waited at the wrong platform and missed it. That delayed our trip half and hour; we rode the next train. Maastricht is a city in the Netherlands. There, we just wandered around all day. We ate in a couple somewhat expensive places. We walked through a park and saw some crazy guy smoking pot. We went to the shopping area. There was an outdoors store that we stayed in for a while. Ryan R contemplated getting a tent we could use to go camping in, say, Switzerland. It sounded really fun, and I was on board for splitting the cost. I'm sure camping could turn out to be kind of expensive when you consider you have to buy sleeping bags, probably a mat to sleep on, and whatever else. But it sounded like so much fun. Matt also was thinking of buying some backpacking packs. We stayed there in indecision, and only left when the employees told us they were closing. All the shops around there closed at like 5:00. That evening, the Netherlands were playing in a soccer match vs. France. Everyone there was decked out in bright orange. We went to a McDonalds to watch the last half of that match. Holland pounded the French 4:1. It was an exciting atmosphere to be around. Then we took the train back. We got off in Herleen to switch trains and head to Aachen. But when we looked at the schedule, we discovered we'd missed the last train. There wasn't another until 6:15 the next morning. It was approaching midnight at this point. We didn't know what to do. We explored our options: staying in a hotel here in Herleen; taking a taxi; or taking a train to Landschaft, the closest we could get to Aachen and either do the hotel or taxi thing there. We opted for a taxi from Herleen. It would be expensive, but we'd be splitting the cost four ways, and we didn't have much choice at this point. It's always an adventure travelling with people who don't really have a plan or know where they're going. It's all part of the experience; and we'll know better next time.
Tuesday night, my floor was cooking an authentic German food for dinner (I'm not even sure how to spell it): Ribbelkuchen. It was potato pancakes with applesauce on top. Apples and potatoes sounded a little weird together to me, but it was actually really good. The potatoes warmed up the applesauce, making it very delicious. They said you see this often served at fairs.
Jaimie, one of the American students here with the UROP program, had made dinner that night for friends also. I had been invited and really wanted to go; but I also didn't want to miss my floor dinner. I actually tried to go to Jaimie's, but I didn't really know where her dorm was. I heard she lived by the Uniklinik, so I was going to try to take the bus out there and figure it out. But I got on the wrong bus, of course! I always mix up the 3A and 3B! No matter how many times I make the same mistake, I will never learn! Sometimes, I'm at the bus stop and I see one or the other coming. I have to think fast whether or not it's the one I want, before it pulls away and I'm stuck waiting another 15 minutes. I usually just get on and then realize it's the wrong route. But this time, I knew I wanted the 3A. Then I saw the 3B coming. "Not my bus..." I thought to myself. But on the top screen on the front of the bus, it said "UNIKLINIK" indicating that that's the next big stop it's headed towards. "Well, maybe this is my bus..." I thought and got on. But when it started driving, it was not in the direction toward the Uniklinik. I got off at the next stop, and by that point I was too frustrated with the buses to try again, so I just went back to my dorm. I'm actually glad that bus incident happened. Eating dinner with my floor was probably better than with the American students. Sometimes I wish my fellow Americans didn't drink and smoke so much. I'm slowly feeling their influence. One of these days, they're going to peer pressure me into getting completely wasted or something. Some people went to Amsterdam last weekend. I wasn't invited, but who cares? I just missed out on smoking some pot.
Wednesday, I tried to make the brownies from the mix I'd bought the previous week. But they didn't turn out very well. They were a little overcooked and too "cakey." I guess I couldn't measure the ingredients too precisely since I didn't have a measuring cup. And I used the cardboard baking pan that came with the box instead of something nicer made of glass or metal; that could have been part of it. That was disappointing; I was looking forward to brownies for dinner and sharing them with my floor. Chris wouldn't let me throw them away; he said leave them out and people would eat them.
Then, I headed over to near the sports complex for a party called Schau am Bau. It's put on by the civil engineers at RWTH. I'd heard more than one person talking about it in the week leading up, so I was interested to see what it would be like. There was a portable stage with a band, and a place to buy drinks; it was very similar to the party the previous weekend in Krefeld, except it was mostly student-aged people here. I decided going alone had been a dumb idea, so I went back to my dorm to find someone. But the place was empty. As I was headed back out, I got on the elevator at exactly the same time as Ryan R and Hani. They were heading to Schau am Bau, so I joined them. I had a few drinks there: some beer with lemonade thing. It was really cold out, and I had class the next morning, so I was anxious to leave. I think I might be a little sick; I've been coughing a decent amount and am always very tired. I saw my brownie pan sitting in the kitchen that night when I came back. There were only a few left, so I polished them off. They tasted a lot better after coming back from Schau am Bau for some reason.
Thursday was the next German soccer match. I stayed at my institute after I was done working. Some people were watching it in the party room there. Unfortunately it was raining a little, but someone braved the weather and barbecued some meat. I had some wurst and drank a beer. Drinking with your work colleagues can be a little weird, but it was fun. Germany lost; it was sad.
The MSU guys and I had been talking about going to Munich that weekend, but train tickets were too expensive. We decided on Maastricht and possibly Luxembourg instead. I didn't know when we were leaving, and I was going to call someone as soon as it was a reasonable hour on Friday morning. Then, I got a call from Ryan R saying they were at the bus station and leaving soon. Buses left every half hour, they were going to leave and I could catch up. What!? "Don't leave without me!" I pleaded as I crammed some stuff into my backpack, trying to pack in under two minutes. We weren't sure if we'd spend the night out there or just come back to Aachen, so I threw in my pajamas, toothbrush, etc. just in case. I went as fast as I could; I was on the bus toward the train station/bus station, when Ryan R called again, asking where I was. He said they were gonna take a train instead from platform one at 11:32, and they'd already bought me a ticket. I had about 10 minutes to make it to the station at that point. I can't believe how slowly that bus went! Finally, we arrived at the Hauptbanhof. As I was sprinting up the stairs to the tracks, I got a third phone call. "You'd better hurry up! We're leaving like now!" There I was, at the top of the stairs. I leaped on the train, and not ten seconds later, we pulled out of the station. Phew! Just made it!
We had to switch trains once, and Matt looked at our tickets wrong, so we waited at the wrong platform and missed it. That delayed our trip half and hour; we rode the next train. Maastricht is a city in the Netherlands. There, we just wandered around all day. We ate in a couple somewhat expensive places. We walked through a park and saw some crazy guy smoking pot. We went to the shopping area. There was an outdoors store that we stayed in for a while. Ryan R contemplated getting a tent we could use to go camping in, say, Switzerland. It sounded really fun, and I was on board for splitting the cost. I'm sure camping could turn out to be kind of expensive when you consider you have to buy sleeping bags, probably a mat to sleep on, and whatever else. But it sounded like so much fun. Matt also was thinking of buying some backpacking packs. We stayed there in indecision, and only left when the employees told us they were closing. All the shops around there closed at like 5:00. That evening, the Netherlands were playing in a soccer match vs. France. Everyone there was decked out in bright orange. We went to a McDonalds to watch the last half of that match. Holland pounded the French 4:1. It was an exciting atmosphere to be around. Then we took the train back. We got off in Herleen to switch trains and head to Aachen. But when we looked at the schedule, we discovered we'd missed the last train. There wasn't another until 6:15 the next morning. It was approaching midnight at this point. We didn't know what to do. We explored our options: staying in a hotel here in Herleen; taking a taxi; or taking a train to Landschaft, the closest we could get to Aachen and either do the hotel or taxi thing there. We opted for a taxi from Herleen. It would be expensive, but we'd be splitting the cost four ways, and we didn't have much choice at this point. It's always an adventure travelling with people who don't really have a plan or know where they're going. It's all part of the experience; and we'll know better next time.
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