The Chapter Where Our Heroine Finally Gets To Use All the German Phrases She Learned in School

In my high school German class it always seemed like we would learn the most useless conversational phrases.

Ute:  Was hast du gestern Abend gemacht? (What did you do last night?) 

Helga:  Gestern bin ich in Diskothek gegangen! Es war spitze! (Yesterday I went to the Disco.  It was awesome!)

Please.  Like that's ever going to happen. We don't even have discos/clubs in America (or at least not in the Midwest).

Jan: Es regnet furchtbar viel heute und ich habe meinen Regenschirm vergessen.  (It's raining unbelievably today and I forgot my umbrella.)

Anna:  Das ist schade.  Willst du heute ins Kino gehen? (That's too bad.  Are you going to the movies today)

Every conversational German lesson must have people going to the movies.  I think it might be German law to teach American kids about das Kino.  Either that or the weather.

I had completely given up hope on using these phrases as well as many others.  As fate would have it - I managed to use both of these phrases this week.  Except the part about the movie theater.

On Wednesday night, the Tübinger Fünf decided to head down the biggest club in town - Top10.  Wednesday nights at Top10 are student nights which means free admission with a student ID and the drinks are half-price.

Top10 is a clubbing complex. They give you a little Top10 Credit Card when you check in so you buy everything on that card and then on the way out you pay for everything.  The club throws out the under 18 kids after 10pm and then opens up the whole building and its many club rooms for the 18+ crowd. ,(Although the drinking age in Germany is 16, you have to be 18 to buy hard liquor).  Top10 makes most American clubs look like pale imitations.

 We spent the night in the KlangRaum, which features live DJs and huge dance floor.  We all had a really great time.  Although I might be permanently deaf now, the live DJ experience was great.  They remixed American pop music into French dubstep into German rap, one right after the other.  It was amazing what they could set a beat to. If any of my American friends come to visit me, I'm taking them right to Top10 - it makes any frat party look like a pathetic amateur hour.

So yes, I was able to say that Gestern bin ich in Diskothek gegangen.


Yesterday I was also able to use another German phrase.  The girls all got caught in a huge rainstorm without umbrellas downtown.  Let me tell you, slippery cobblestones are no fun.

Angsty Rachel waits for the rain to pass

Das Boot got all wet.  It was gross.

Do we make a run for it or not?!

Finally the rain has passed and it was a lovely day!

Another touristy trip (learned the hard way) - ALWAYS carry your umbrella.