first of all, mechelen train station gets a big thumbs down from me (because i have to turn my aggression somewhere). reason? to get to my destination of nijmegen i had 2 connections, the first of which was a 4 minute gap, which became a 2 minute or less gap because the first train was slow, so i missed boarding it while running to catch it. waited an hour but the next one was cancelled, so i arrived in nijmegen (the netherlands) 2 hours late to a patient ina (who, to my credit, i called from a payphone several times but she left her phone in the car by accident). anyways, she took me to her apartment in kranenburg, germany. tiny town but better living conditions than in nijmegen (where her and her 2 roommates go to university). nice roommates. settled in and hung out, ina made dinner and one of her friends came with her boyfriend. we played a game called bluff and michel (one of ina's roommates) shared his birthday beer with me. lots of german conversation that i didn't understand but lots of fun anyways (are they actually saying words or just making noise and sending mind messages to eachother?). then the 2 friends left and we played "flour cutting"(or is it cocaine?)which is a game sort of like jenga where you put a toothpick in flour and cut away until the toothpick falls and if it falls on your turn you have to get it with your mouth which leaves flour on your face and run-on sentence. then a few rounds of poker then went to bed.
friday march 6th
ina showed me around her school in nijmegen, then around the actual city part of nijmegen. nice parts with lots of shopping and stuff. walked around with her roommate who met up with us. went to a cafe and played rummikub. went back to ina's apartment then headed to wesel (ina's mom's house). ate delicious mom-made food with her mom and bro, then walked around wesel with another one of ina's friends, maerle (sp?). went to a heavy metal bar. went to the rhine. went to bed.
saturday march 7th
we had a breakfast with ina's direct family then headed to düsseldorf where her boyfriend and another friend judith lives. toured the city which was very nice. expensive shops (i.e. tiffany and gucchi and stuff like that). saw the rhine again, except in a better environment, better weather, and better lighting. tried the "old" beer of düsseldorf, which is good. ate falafel. went to the top of the rheinturm tv tower which was huge and a very nice view. walked around a little bit more then headed back to daniel (ina's boyfriend)'s apartment. ate dinner, watched german idol, then went out and about with ina. we had a beer at an outdoor place and met 2 german guys that bought us drinks and wanted to hang out with us all night. so we went to another bar where it was only old people and the 2 guys started dancing and being just kind of strange but enjoyable to watch. after long enough at that one bar where the guys were singing and dancing to every goofy song, we went to some danceclub sort of place where the guys dropped their drink expense card on us and ran. but we danced then went home and slept.
sunday march 8th
headed to cologne, germany with ina and daniel. saw the massive cathedral (biggest/most impressive one i've seen so far). saw the rhine in the rain. went to an art museum called museum ludwig, which was fun. first time to an art museum in a while. ate a wienerschnitzel for lunch. nice. twas good. then met up with a few more of ina's friends for a very brief time before i had to get on my train back to leuven. such a very good time.
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| Nijmegen, Wesel, Düsseldorf, Cologne |
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