So I had a post almost completely written up about my first week in Germany – the travel, the people, the orientation with other Fulbrighters. But to be honest with you, it was super boring and mostly me gushing about how nice and helpful and interesting everyone has been. Instead, I will tell you about my night Saturday night, when I planned on going to Dortmund to hang out with other English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) and what happened was so much more than all of us could’ve possibly imagined.
So a little background, at the orientations for us the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst (PAD – just one of the many organizations I’m affiliated with through my grant) gave us the names of all the ETAs in Deutschland. This was especially helpful, because ALL the Americans had orientation together, which meant that I met a ton of fun, cool people who were placed throughout Germany but also that I don’t know everybody teaching English in my little area. There’s another Fulbrighter, Susanna, who will be living in Bochum and working in Herne, and Jess, a British student who is living and working in Herne. Jess contacted us since she had her PAD orientation before we did, and so on Friday night we met up in Bochum and hung around the music fest, and she told us that some ETAs in Dortmund were planning on getting together Saturday night and put us in the loop (Bochum is smack dab in the middle of Essen and Dortmund, each are about a 10-15 minute train ride away). We invited fellow Fulbrighter in Dortmund and my orientation roommate Breanna, and by the time we all met at the Hauptbahnhof in Dortmund there were seven of us in all: Breanna, Susanna, and I from the US, Jess and Amy from England, Tracey from New Zealand, and John from Canada. The evening started out fairly chill, we walked through Dortmund a bit and enjoying the sights of many drunken Scots pregaming for the Sunday Scotland-Germany national game, and then grabbed some food at an Italian place. Then, we went in search of a pub or something to grab some beers and just hang out outside.
Pretty sure Alter Markt became the place most populated with Scots Saturday. Please observe/enjoy the plethora of kilts and bubbles in this photo.
Ok, so here’s when our night got wonderfully weird. After one drink at a place that I don’t really know how it is staying in business (it was so weird you guys, and as sketch as you can get in the middle of a city), we walk in the direction of the Alter Markt, the home base for aforementioned drunken Scots. Miraculously, my compatriots are able to snag a table that fits seven people in the middle of the Scottish party that had only elevated since we were in the square a few hours before. And somehow (I’ll tell you how – beer) we morphed from amused observers to totally active participants in Scottish revelry. Like, we’re talking to these guys about Scottish independence and where all they’ve traveled with the team (I asked where their favorite away game had been and the surprising answer – Moldova) and then this guy with a polar bear hat and polar bear bagpipe serenades us with “Do Re Mi” from The Sound of Music and Avicii’s “Wake Me Up”. I learned several new cheers, and I think Amy and Jess especially enjoyed those that disparaged England. At one point we all started singing Elvis and Johnny Cash songs (couldn’t tell you why), and whilst washing my hands the bathroom a Scottish lady (in the pinkest kilt I’ve ever seen) flipped her shit on me when I told her I was from America and said the best trip she ever took was to Nashville, Memphis, and Branson because she just loves country music so much and she wants nothing more than to go back. Eventually, however, all the songs had been sung and our delightfully strange evening had to end, and as we were walking back to the train station we met an Olympian at a swing set in the middle of the city (as you do). Susanna and I boarded the train back to Bochum and my lullaby that night was 100% a song praising the Scottish national team’s two Fletchers.
Laufen mit Liz 