I am JPond: Day 7 & 8: Germany, you win.

May 6th & 7th, 2012 ---

... I don't even feel like writing this right now. Aghh. But it's 6:45am on Day 8 and I haven't gone to sleep yet. I'm sitting on a train on my way back to Cologne after partying in Munster till the sun came up. Literally. No point in sleeping now, might as well write.........
......
...
..

Nope...... Cant do it. I change my mind. I may, to quite a surprise, be completely and 100% sober right now, but there's a major lack of function up there. I'll give it another shot later this afternoon.
ZzZzzz....

--------------

Siiighhhh..... Okay.

Well, having already read an intro to what will come, I'll still start at the beginning.

Today was a rainy day and as rainy days usually go, they set the mood for a typically mellow day. Which it indeed was. (The day, I mean.)

We woke around 11:30, got ready and headed out with a few things to accomplish. Apropose, we go! I promised I would try on that dress and today, feeling well rested and so much better, was the day. So off we went to Apropose, with umbrellas in hand.

That morning I had straightened my hair all nice, but of course... As soon as I stepped outside, poof. Frizz. The downside of having naturally curly hair! Ugh! By the time we arrived at Apropose, even Janis was laughing at my #CurlyHairProblems.

I walked in and headed straight to the dress. Of course, being all high end and fancy, they only had one tiny size on the rack, so I found a sales associate close by who went to the back to grab my size and lead me to a fitting room. The dress was so beautiful. It was black satin on top, layers that pleated horizontally until it reached the natural waist where a black belt, encrusted with white crystals sat above the cream-colored satin skirt that had an overlay of puffed out tule. Though I felt a little wider in it, it was still so cute and classy! I did a little spin in the dressing room, opening the door to show the sales associate and Janis who wanted to see it on. After thoroughly enjoying wearing a dress worth €600, I closed the dressing room door, snapped a pic for memory purposes and then changed back to real life clothing. Twas fun!

We wandered around the store for a few more minutes... Where I found the show boutique. Dammit. I was done for. So many pretty shooooooeeeeessss!!!!! Jimmy Choo, Yves St. Laurent, Monolo and Loubtin! Sighhh.... It was shoe heaven. I found a gorgeous pair of Yves St. Laurent platform pumps in a dark beige with cognac-colored piping, heel and toe cap. Obsessed. Absolutely obsessed. With no sales associate in sight and realizing it was my size, I looked at Janis and then just went for it! I slipped it on real fast and then discovered that, as beautiful as it was, it was terribly uncomfortable. Thank goodness! My level of obsession lowered to just a high level of appreciation... So I found a way to part with the masterpiece and moved on... To where I found the latest collection from Christian Louboutin. Beige snakeskin pumps.... Classic black leather peep toe, all of which had the standard red Louboutin sole. I think I let out a small whimper when I saw the price stickers at €695 or higher. One day Louboutin... one day....

By that point, I had to leave my shoe love behind... I didn't want Janis to think I had a problem or anything... It's just a real appreciation of beautifully designed shoes and quality leather... That's all.. Sigh.. We were on our way to MAC so I could grab a few things I had forgotten. On our way, he showed me this little bakery. So adorable, it was painted a light, candy-colored pink and had bench-seating along the corridor wall and small tables adorned with lit tea lights. Walking through the doorway, I looked into the glass cases. I wasn't going to get anything, but after seeing the eclairs, I had to try one! I hadn't had an eclair in years! So I paid for a small one, sat at one of the small tables by the entry... And that's where I met a new friend! With wet, crimped, light blonde hair, beautiful structured face and dark brown eyes... I instantly fell in love. I never found out his name, but he was the most beautiful and affectionate golden retriever! Haha! And you all probably thought I meant a boy! Well, my puppy, Koda would've been jealous. I gave him an ear scratch and pet his wet fur with his head nuzzled against my leg. He was the cutest thing.. I wanted to take him home with me! But obviously when that wasn't an option, it made me miss my little fur ball back home in San Diego!

We headed onto MAC where I grabbed a few things then headed to a bar! Earlier that day, Janis had told me that the Cologne football (soccer) team would be playing a big match against Munich that would be the deciding factor on whether they would be in the first seed or not. Now I really have no idea what that means, nor am I sure I even explained that right, but I knew it was a big game and that the bars would be full of people watching! I wanted to join for the experience of watching a football game with Europeans who are known for their passion towards football! So off we went, dipping in and out of a few places looking for somewhere that wasn't super crowded.

After a few places, we settled at a place where we shared a long table with a few people and ordered some Kolsh beer, the main beer from Cologne (that's great, might I add.) I ordered a Hawaiian calzone as a late lunch and proceeded to watch the game.

Never have I ever been into soccer. I've watched it once or twice with an ex of mine that was from London and always enjoyed supporting his team, Tottenham. But I never really paid attention... I usually was doing homework or busy doing anything that didn't involve watching guys kick a ball around. But this time.... I was in the bar, beer I'm hand, not exactly yelling at the tv.. but let's just say I definitely got into it. And when Cologne lost.... It was soo sad. A few people...the opposition.. they cheered.. But everyone else was pretty quiet. You could definitely feel the disappointment in the air. None the less, it was an absolute blast just being around all the supporters of the local football team!

We went straight back to Janis' apartment following the game and quickly changed and head for the train station. We were on our way to Munster, a two hour train ride away, to party till the wee hours.... Pretty much till we could catch the first train heading back to Cologne at 6:34am.

We arrived at the Bahnhof, hopped on the train and enjoyed a nap mid-ride arriving in Munster around 8:45. When we got outside the train station, there were bicycles parked EVERYWHERE! I couldn't believe it! So many freakin bikes!!! Janis informed me that Munster is the biking city of Germany and everyone bikes here. No kidding! Geez!

Janis & I walked over to a nearby grocery store, picked up some alcohol and while we were in there I noticed a bottle with clear liquid and an apple on it! I grab it and run over to him, "Janis!!! Is this apple water??!" "Yes..." I think he was a bit puzzled why I was so stoked about finding apple water. "Its not carbonated right? Just plain apple water?" "Yes, why?" I explained to him that, Aaron, the guy from New Zealand that had introduced me to The Black Seeds, had told me about apple water once upon a time and I thought it was the neatest thing. He tried to bring me back some when he came back in March but because he couldn't bring it on the plane in his back, he never had a chance. He laughed when I told him how badly I wanted to try it and told me to just water down some apple juice because, surely, it would probably taste the same. Obviously I refused and have been waiting out for this apple water. So when I was in the grocery store i was stoked to find some!

From here, we headed over to Janis' friend Tim's apartment; a fantastically, modern and ikea decorated place. It was a cool spot! We had some drinks, listened to a bunch of amazing house music had a few laughs.... They mainly spoke German so i mainly just drank but they tried to include me the best they could. I didn't mind though, I'm in Germany, wasn't expecting everyone to speak English.

We went hopped in a cab around midnight to a place called Club Fusion. We were seeing a house dj named Oliver Koletzki. When we arrived, Janis' best friend, Jana had put us on the list, so we went straight in and dropped off our coats at coat check. Once inside, we grabbed some drinks and proceeded to hit the dance floor. About an hour(?) later, Jana and her boyfriend disappeared and Janis said he'd be right back having to go find a friend, leaving Tim and I on the dance floor. As the place began to get more and more crowded, personal space was pretty much gone. Everyone around us dancing and having a blast. About another hour had past and Tim gets a few texts from Janis saying he couldn't find us in the crowd and that they were now right beside the DJ on stage! Tim & I immediately went to find them and spent the rest of the night partying up there! It was so fun!

Club Fusion was a really cool spot, the only thing that really sucked - like most places in Germany, you're allowed to smoke in the venue. It was sooooo smokey! With all the secondhand smoke around me the whole night, by the time we left around 5, my eyes were burning and my lungs felt like I had smoked a carton. Breathing definitely felt like a chore. Though the music was amazing and i probably could've kept dancing for another few hours, I was relieved when it was time to go.

Janis and I took a short taxi ride to a small diner a block from the train station, where I had an amazing wrap called a Döner Rollo. Inside was salad, a thin sliced warm meat and tzatziki sauce. Sooooo good! I had drank two bottles of water, I think all the smokey air and dancing made me sooo thirsty, as I had stopped drinking sometime around 1am, and only had about a total of 5 or 6 drinks the whole night, mostly at Tim's. It was nice to be completely sober for the train ride back to Cologne at 630.

The train ride was the lonnnnngggeeeesssttttt train ride evvvvvveeeeerrrrrr!!!! About 20minutes into the ride back, exhaustion hit. Legs, lungs, body aching. Mental function gone. Cigarette smoke embedded into every thread of clothing I was wearing. Janis and I joked how destroyed we felt. Another wild night! Non stop dancing. I literally hadn't sat down till the cab to the diner. I danced the WHOLE night! #LikeAChamp.

Like you previously read, I attempted to blog, but i just couldn't put together an interesting sentence, nor did I want to. Stoked, was I, when we finally pulled into the Cologne Bahnhof. Janis and I got back to his apartment in record time. I immediately jumped into the shower... there was no way I would be able to sleep feeling as gross I was feeling. After a nice, long, warm shower... Feeling refreshed, I hit the pillow, emailing my parents to let them know I got in okay and checking my mail. I ended up laying in bed wide awake.

'Seriously?'

Partied all night till the sun rose, exhausted train catching for a grueling 2 hour train back to Cologne and now I can't sleep?!

Okay, Germany, you win. Now let me sleep.

I finally passed out around 10:30am waking up around 1:30.

... It is currently just after midnight, I'm still in my pajamas. Today was an epically lazy day with nothing but a little packing, writing, listening to music, face booking, picture uploading and eating some super bomb pasta Janis made.

Today was needed. Off to Lucerne, Switzerland tomorrow!
I'm staying in my very first hostel! Wish me luck!

Till next tomorrow,

Goodnight!