Ice Cream with Tom

Welcome and Introduction

Good afternoon, faithful readers. This is the first entry after spending about a week and a half with some combination of Frank, Greg, and my Big Brother Alex. Much has happened over this time period, including an extended weekend in Prague, thus I doubt my ability to remember all of the exciting details. I will do my best to convey to you, my faithful readers, a general idea of what has happened.

Weekdays in Dresden

The Arrival of Frank and Greg

Frank and Greg arrived on a Saturday Evening, and my Big Brother the day after on Sunday. To be honest we really haven't done anything too exciting here, although there has been more alcohol involved than usual. Saturday afternoon began with Jess and I drinking on the rock garden. We starved ourselves waiting for our friends to arrive at the hauptbahnhof, only to be disappointed when they did not emerge from the train they were supposed to have. Considering they had to take a total of about four connections and were basically drunk the whole time, this isn't too surprising. Jess and I walked home dejectedly, sat on the rock garden, and half an hour later saw Frank and Greg stumbling their way up Hochschulestrasse. Once Frank and Greg got their possessions safely situated in my dorm room, we began the long hike towards the Neustadt. Frank and Greg enjoyed doeners at our beloved Team Ararat, while Jess and I just watched. Jess and I each had two doeners the day before and one the day of, so we decided to be reasonable and resist the temptation.

The Arrival of my Big Brother Alex

Despite the fact that we did not communicate whatsoever regarding the logistics of his visit, we managed to greet my brother coming off of his train on Sunday evening with no problems whatsoever. When dinner time approached he insisted on going out for Chinese, but we agreed to settle on Indian. This prompted another long walk to the Neustadt and incessant complaining on the part of my brother. While passing through Innere Altstadt, we saw an opera that was assembled right in the middle of a public square. This made the walk well worth it, in my opinion. Unfortunately we could not stick around very long to listen, as despite the fact that she had just come back from an action-packed weekend in Saxon Switzerland, Emily had agreed to meet us in the Neustadt and we were already running late. Dinner was fun, and everyone seemed to get along very well.

Elevator Lobbies and Buildings Under Construction

Monday night was the stereotypical night of American college student drunkenness. We did not go "out" or anything normal like that. The night began on the rock garden with liter of wine hour. Unfortunately it started to rain, so we stepped right inside from where the rock garden is, into the second floor elevator lobby of the international guest house. At this point we were fairly drunk, and were in no hurry to leave. Between me, Jess, Frank, Greg, Alex, and a friend Alex had met in the Prague, we had a healthy amount of people just sitting on the floor getting drunk in front of the elevator. Back when I was sober, I had invited Emily to come over with the understanding that we would introduce our visitors to excessively large, fancy, alcoholic ice cream. This unfortunately meant that she had to enter the rowdiest elevator lobby in the world completely sober. A subset of us followed through with the original ice cream plans, while others remained behind. I learned the next day that those who remained behind illegally entered a nearby building which was under construction. Judging from the pictures and enthusiasm of their stories, it sounds like they had a great time.

Wednesday's Dinner Party

The next evening in Dresden was very uneventful, other than the fact that I discovered a new favorite doener shop. I have been back three times. On Wednesday, my brother left for Prague at some point while I was at work. We kicked off the evening with a dinner party between me, Frank, Greg, Emily, and Teri. It was very fun, rowdy, and drunken. We kicked off the meal by saying the Pledge of Allegiance for Teri's benefit. She told us that every Canadian school day begins by pledging the flag of the United States of America, and we wanted her to feel at home. A half hour later, after the Pledge of Allegiance and other loud, drunken antics, my new German room mate (who speaks very little English) emerged from his room. Oops. After fifteen minutes of a dance party in my dorm room, we realized that we should probably go out for real. We chose Club Aquarium, which is quickly becoming my new favorite Place of Convenience. We even joined my Friend of Convenience, Jess, who was unable to attend the dinner party due to a date with a horse.

It should also be noted that my visitors have taken a liking to the Mensa as well. The most fun part is getting the student price for everyone, despite the fact that they are not entitled to it. We approach the cash register in a semicircle, and I just start pointing to everyone's trays. The cashier asks for their student IDs, and we just act incredibly confused. Everyone began handing her random, expired American student IDs, and the cashier just looked at them and shook her head in disappointment. We just kept standing our ground acting confused until the cashier eventually gave up and allowed us to pay the student price anyway. This is what I like to call a "language barrier showdown." Each party has a conflicting goal, and tries to state their case in a language which the other party does not understand. Eventually, everyone just looks awkward and starts laughing, and the more confused looking party gets their way. See also: Language Barrier Pictionary, Language Barrier Charades, and Language Barrier $100,000 pyramid.


Prague: The Greatest City in America

Yeah, Prague was freaking awesome. The fact that my brother had lived there for an extended period of time and knew which clubs and stuff to go to didn't hurt. We went out and had a great time every night (expect for the last night, which was just sort of average), and spent every day just wandering the streets and hanging out in parks. No museums allowed. We had such a great time that I even blew off a second day of work to stay longer. I know, this is very out of character for me.

On our first night, we went out dancing. I suppose the music was some kind of dance music. Either way it was very fun, as we were very drunk. The next night was much better, though, as we saw an awesome indie rock band called The Prostitutes. I am going to put much effort into finding a recording of their music. After the live music, there was a mass exodus from the club, despite the presence of a DJ. There were many moments where my brother and I were the only two on the dance floor (especially when the DJ played Nirvana and the Arctic Monkeys).

The third night was awesome because we met Big Rock at an expat hangout far away from the touristy city center. At first we thought he was a huge bullshitter, as he talked about touring with bands and having a princess for a girlfriend. It turned out that he was a bit more legitimate than we thought, as waves of girls came into the bar and greeted him in a very friendly manner. He even has his own plaque on the bar. That's freaking crazy. The bar itself was amazing, as evidenced by the time that I heard both Choking Victim and Neutral Milk Hotel played over the sound system.

Prague is great because you can more or less live like an American life in the city. There are plenty of bars and clubs that are overrun with both tourists and those living away from home for extended periods of time. We even went to a bagel shop--a real, live, American-style bagel shop (there was a section of the menu titled "From the grill...")

I could really write a lot more regarding the weekend in Prague, but I have to meet my brother back home in twenty minutes. I am writing this from work.

Essay Contest - Win a Personalized Post Card!

You guys are doing good with commenting, but not great. I would like to see it kicked up a notch. Thus, I am offering rewards. For anyone who comments in the form of an essay about why they deserve a postcard from me, I am offering one personalized postcard mailed directly from Dresden to your place of residence. This is not an "everyone wins" kind of thing, but there will hopefully be more than one winner. The more effort you put into this, the more likely you are to receive the prize. Please include your mailing address in your essay. If you do not feel comfortable posting your address in this pseudo-public place, you may email it to me at jcsicsek@vt.edu. Good luck, and thanks for playing!