99 Luftballons!

This past Saturday night, I was invited out for a night of dancing with "the girls". We had a group of seven: me, Petra, Shravanthi, Shravanthi's friend Marietka, Melanie (who works in our group at MPI), Petra's friend Violetta, and Svea (former MPI-er).

We started the evening by meeting up at Petra's apartment, which is close to downtown Stuttgart. Melanie brought this awesome Dutch liquor called Nobeltje. It's produced by a hotel located on an island in the Netherlands, and is only sold there and at 4 other licensed locations in the Netherlands. No where else in the world is it possible to purchase it. Melanie knows about it because she grew up 5 km from the Dutch border, and so she picked up a bottle on a recent trip home. The liquor is very sweet, tastes a bit like vanilla and almonds, and is completely deceptive at 32% alcohol. If I ever acquire my own bottle, I'll be happy to share. :)

Anyway, after our little cocktail hour, we headed downtown at the ripe hour of midnight. The bar we went to is this funny mix of American and German culture. They had four different parts, each with their own DJ and vibe. (1) a Coyote Ugly bar, complete with skanky girls dancing on the bar and American flags and license plates on the walls. When we walked in, they were playing "Devil went down to Georgia"... (2) a Hip Hop bar ... (3) a new age music bar ... and finally (4) an American/German bar. We chose the latter since it was the least crowded and had some good dance music.

The music at our chosen bar was definitely a bit nostalgic. Songs that I remember were: "99 Luftballons", "Grease Megamix", "Surfin' USA", "I've Had the Time of my Life", and "Highway to Hell". Believe me, you've never lived until you've heard a guy with a thick German accent sing "I've Had the Time of my Life" to you. Then there were tons of other German pop songs, which just cracked me up. Petra, Melanie, and Svea would instantly burst into song, while the rest of us danced along, completely confused.

My favorite was a German song called "Cowboy und Indianer", that was complete with matching motions, like throwing your lasso and riding a horse (Listen to it here). We also learned some typical Karnival songs (German Mardi Gras), and since we're going to Karnival in Köln next weekend it was good preparation! That trip will certainly generate some new postings; Karnival is supposed to be wild. Hopefully we'll have some "appropriate" pictures to post! :)