Last weekend I had my first little Erasmus reunion in Aken, because several people from my first semester in Sundsvall during winter 2006 meet here. On Thursday Sebastian, Solène and Sandra already arrived and in the evening, after I had finished work, we met in front of a city hall and started with a pub tour. Sebastian described the local Cologne beer (also known as "Kölsch") quite well: "It is rather sweet. Tastes more like juice than beer". Welcome to the essential question of the region I grew up with, buddy. After midnight we ended up in a cocktail bar with cheap cocktails and strange music. I got home after 1am. Pictures of the evening of Thursday by Sandra.
The following days were similar. During Friday I still had to work while Sebastian, Solène and Ulrich visited beautiful Maastricht. In the evening Nikola and Ulli joined the team and we after getting into the mood at Ulrich's place, we made a pub tour through Aken once again. Surprisingly there were less people in the pubs than one day before. Maybe the students go home during the weekends. And there are currently holidays anyway. However, at that night I learned, that a "small Guinness" should be called "cute Guinness". And the dome and city hall look quite impressive at night. Because we started the pub tour at midnight I came home some time in the morning. Pictures of Friday by Sandra.
Although Friday night was late again we met 12 in Cologne for a city tour. The tour started with a coffee which has been necessary after the late night before. Afterwards we went up the dome which takes quite a while. First, because it takes some time to climb 500 stairs. And second, because the stairs are so narrow that you have trafic jams every few meters, because people have to manage to pass each other. But the view was nice and for 1 € it was worth the effort. Another highlight was visiting Globetrotter where we could at least dream about possible future adventure trips. In Cologne, Globetrotter even has a pool where you can test canoes and diving equipment. That made a little bit distance-sick.
But the day was not even half done. The girls wanted to go shopping and we guys wanted to join in principle. But all good speeches for nothing, because the first shop the girls went in only for women. And since we did not only want to watch the others shopping, we went for our own and met the others later on in front of a pub in the old part of Cologne. There were a lot bachelor parties going on. Since it is a tradition bachelors are forced by their friends to do some crazy stuff the evening before getting married. We did not count the bachelor groups, but they were quite a few. From the old city we went to the street with student pubs. The street was full of people and the pubs were well visited. At something past 1am we took our trains back home. Pictures of Saturday by Sandra.
Sunday was rather relaxed. We met in Aken and made a city tour watching the dome. In my opinion the dome to Aken is more beautiful than the one in Cologne, although it is much smaller. Blinded by the sun we decided to eat ice cream, which did not really fit the rather chilly temperatures. But it also minimized chances for brain freezers. Although we did not do so much, time passed by very quick. When Sebastian and Solène left as last visitors Aken it was 6pm. Pictures of Sunday by Sandra. Nikola also has a gallery about all days.That was the first reunion in Aken and I can say: you can spent some cool nights here, although I must admit, that Cologne is a much better ground for pub tours. Nevertheless, the next meeting is becoming more concrete. Ward and Christian are arriving September's first weekend and the chance is good for more visitors of Sundsvall's winter semester 2007. I need to go home this weekend for fetching some mattresses. And since I will get two new constant flatmates, it will be a full house here.
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