night out with the hostel

i went out with the hostel guys last night. it was an interesting experience. they were all american and i was the only other nationality in the group. there were 5 of us in total (not including the crazy german leader who organised the night out), 3 white guys, me and a black dude from chicago. the black guy was called troy and i sort of made friends with him during my last couple of days. he was pretty cool and had this way of speaking that reminded me of a jazz cat. everything was spoken in a slow rhythmic way and he was very worldly. which was a complete opposite to the other three. one guy from texas and two other dudes who looked and acted like they were straight outta a recruitment video for the US army. i didn't really like them and they didn't seem to like me that much. i don't think troy liked them much either, as his accent wasn't as strong as theirs and he told them he was from england when they aked him were he was from. it was very funny when he told them, he just looked at me and winked. they had no idea even though he clearly wasn't english.

we went to this club, i think it was called A66 and is apparently one of the biggest clubs in frankfurt. it was pretty big, but as i'm from melbourne the size wasn't that impressive. if you want somewhere to be big, then try and beat the metro on bourke street. i'm not jaded, just spoilt by my previous outings in my home city. the music there was a little odd at first, as they mashed up r'n'b and some dance music. not the way i'm used to, ie putting dance beats to rock songs or putting two songs together, but playing a verse and a chorus to one and then changing the songs. it was kind of irritating. but then they started playing some hardcore dance music and i was at home again. aaah, revolver and the lounge, how you've conditioned me. it was here that i was reminded of my friend cecilia again, and another friend vickie, who i instantly texted and said something like, 'i'm here listening to this music that you would die for! hahahaha...'

what was odd though, is that when you walk into this club you get your photo taken and handed a card. the card is for drinks, because inside no money changes hands. all your drinks are put on this card and then you pay for what you drink when you leave. at first it was a little discouraging, thinking but how do i know what i've drunk. i got over that quickly though, as instead of having just bars, there's also vending machines so you don't have to line up. the crazy german leader told me to go for the top option as it was apparently the best drink and as i couldn't read what it was anyway i said okay and went for it. turns out it was tequila beer. an interesting drink, and one i don't think i'll be having again. the crazy german loved it and a little later the came back with a couple of them screaming, 'it's happy hour at the vending machine!' the second time i went to the vending machine i tried a different drink. what i thought was vodka though, turned out to be absinthe. again another interesting choice.

now at this club no one was really speaking to me, by that i mean germans, but i think this was because i was with all these americans. two of which had really strong accents. hell, one of them was from texas and you could tell that pretty easily. oddly enough he was the guy with the USA jacket i was talking about earlier, though thank god he wasn't wearing it tonight. even though i was in frankfurt, everyone seemed to have a basic understanding of english, so i think they knew americana were there. it was cool though when i went off by myself to find the smoke machine, i ran into a couple of germans that were friendly and decided to take me under their wing and show me around and chat and what have you. this was the start of something. once this began and i was separated from the americans everyone wanted to chat to me. i met so many people and even made a few contacts in frankfurt so that if i ever go back there i have some friends and maybe a place to stay.

i think my americans didn't have such a good time as i couldn't find them after awhile and i think they all went home. not surprising really, when you consider no one was talking to them. it was quite obvious people don't approve of them. there was one point were i accidentally bumped into someone coming out of the toilet and he said something to me in german, and by the expression on my face he knew instantly that i had no idea what was going on. he then furrowed his brow and said, 'americana?' i replied by saying, 'nein! ich bin australien.' as if i was disgusted by the mere thought of it. he then smiled, gave me a hug and dragged around to the bar to drink jager and red bull shots. this wasn't the first time and it wont be the last time something like this happens. at the end of the night, as i was leaving i had to pay for my drinks via card, so i had to walk back into the club and pay it at the coat check. as the club was closing a bouncer stopped me and when i pulled the drink card and pointed, he nodded and said follow me americana in german. i gave him a foul look and said i'm not american in german. to which he nodded and walked me to the coat check/drink card woman. he then said to her, and i'm only guessing here cause it was all in german, english needs to pay for his drinks. to which i smiled and kinda gave him a pretend arm slap and i'm not english or american, i'm australian. he looked at me amused then asked the coat check/drink card woman what i said. when she translated he laughed his arse off and said, 'entschuldigung.' which basically means sorry, literally my apologies, and again he seemed to like me more.

after i left i went to one of my new friend's house with about 6 others. had a couple more drinks and then exchanged some numbers. i don't know if i'll ever see them again, but i enjoyed myself. i think the germans liked having me there as a novelty, but i don't mind. it's a conversation starter and hopefully means i wont be over here without friends for too long. today i arrived in heidelberg and my final destination. i'll write about this later once i've had some time to process what's going on and what this town's like. i haven't seem much of it except the train station and alexis' apartment, which i have to say is very nice. i'll also let you guys know about the train journey and what i make of country germany as opposed to the city of frankfurt and international germany. i'm guessing less junkies, prostitutes and sex shops and more wurst, liederhausen and steiners. i can tell you one thing though, it's bloody cold in heidelberg. i'm now wearing a t-shirt, a long sleeved t, a jumper and a hoodie and i can still feel the cold. i'm going to have to buy a big jacket real soon.