German reminders of home

Germany was wonderful! It was definitely the right decisions to go, spontaneous as it was. It was nice to be in a foreign country with someone who new the area and the language and could show me around. I loved spending time with Kim, meeting her friends, and being reminded of home. Honestly we didn't do a lot of site-seeing but rather had a relaxing time catching up and being lazy. I arrived rather late at night but Kim was waiting for me at the airport to take me back to her place. We intended to get a bus back to her campus but it stopped around the corner from the actual stop and we missed it and had a rather cold and exciting time trying to call a cab. We eventually had to wave down a car that called a cab for us, oy! But we got home, warmed up, and went to bed. The next day we awoke rather late and decided to have a chill day exploring Dortmund, starting with Kim's campus. We then went downtown and had some curry wurst and glühwein, pleased that the Christmas market still had some stands up. We stayed up watching movies with Kim's friend Mitch. He was another American student and an absolute delight! We woke up late again to go to Düsseldorf where I got to see the Rhine! We walked around and found lots of Spanish restaurants, which threw me for a loop, having just left Spain. But we ate at an Argentinian restaurant and had steak, yums! That was New Year's Eve and we had no definite plans but decided to go to Bochum where there was a bar district called the Bermuda Triangle. We got ready and waited for Kim's friend Jose, a Mexican student, had some wine and headed to town pretty late. As soon as we got off the train people were lighting off fireworks all around us! We had another bottle of wine which Jose masterfully opened without a bottle opener and stood outside and passed the bottle around as the clock struck midnight, watching the beautiful amateur fireworks display explode right above our heads! After watching for probably thirty minutes we went to a salsa bar and ordered more drinks. They did not, however, play salsa music as we had hoped, but we were not going complain as they played American 80s music and even some 50s/60s twist music! We danced the night away and got really drunk. It was an amazing night and Jose got us home safely. The next morning Kim realized at some point she had lost her purse, so we got dressed and looked for it to no avail and then decided to just spend the rest of the day watching movies. Later her friend Christian contacted us to hang out and smoke chi-cha so we spent the evening there. Kim had been wanting Christian and I to meet because she knew we both like gaming. He happens to be a LARPer, which turned out to be a really huge and fascinating culture that I was not aware of. So we geeked out over chicha while Kim listened with a smile. The next night we went out for a bit and had sushi for lunch, then went grocery shopping. I made bruchetta and spaghetti for dinner with Mitch and Sebastian, another of Kim's friends. Sebastian is German but had spent a lot of time in Iowa, eastern Iowa, and speaks English very well and was wearing a Hawkeye hat and sweatpants. If I hadn't been told I might have thought he was an international student from UI just like Kim. Another day of relaxing and movies as the snow fell outside. That evening Mitch, Kim, and I grabbed some dinner and ice cream and then watched Firefly. Christian joined us later and he and I exchanged some music and movies on our harddrives. I now have the audio of several Terry Pratchett novels! It was a lovely last night and a chance to regain some composure before meeting Abbie in Málaga and heading to Morocco! More on that next time!