New friends!
One of the girls from my class, Petra, invited me to join her and her friends at a concert. I thought it would be fun, and despite my initial misgivings about heading out in the dark alone I went! I met her and Deborah at the Duomo bus stop and hopped aboard the bus to take us to Sashau (a venue). While waiting in the rain for her other friend Eva to join us, I was looking forward to practicing my German, since they are all from Switzerland. When addressing me they spoke English (perfect, of course) but I knew they would be speaking to eachother in German. Ha! Guess what they don't teach you in highschool German or university german? Swiss German is NOT the same as Germany German. It is a completely different language. There were a few words I was catching, but mostly I was lost. After the initial hesitation I questioned why I wasn't understanding. They explained it to me. My dreams of becoming fluent in German by practicing with my new friends were shattered on the spot because according to them, Germans can't understand Swiss German. Great.
Petra's other friend Eva joined us, and the meeting of Deborah and Eva was hilarious. Petra and Eva greeted eachother with two kisses, and then Deborah and Eva both hesitated, then one leaned in to kiss while the other stuck out her hand, and then they switched. Finally they decided on kissing eachother's checks to say hello. Eva started towards me, about to lean in, and Petra said something to her that must have been "she has cooties, don't touch her", because Eva stopped and said "ah, hello. I'm Eva."
We went inside the almost empty auditorium and checked out the first band. They were very disappointing. The concert was called Planet Funk: the Illogical Consequence tour, so I was expecting some funky music. no such luck. This band was like an Italian version of Nickelback, only much much worse. The lead guitarist was really into theatrics and kept jumping in the air kicking his feet out, and finally sliding across the stage while playing the guitar. Very entertaining.
We grabbed a beer and went outside to give our ears a break. When we eventually went back in (I should clarify: when we eventually were forced back inside by throngs of people pushing and shoving) I was amazed at how many people were now inside. I'm talking there were thousands of people inside. We went upstairs and watched a bit from up there and I took a few pictures with my cellphone camera (because Kelsie has the other one). We joined the crowd downstairs and I was surprised at how many people knew the lyrics to the songs the band was singing. I had never heard of them before (apparently they are called planet funk, and have a new album out called illogical consequence), but judging by the excitement in the crowd they were a big deal. I really enjoyed them - the energy and mood of the crowd was infectious. But i was tired, and the other girls were anxious to leave so we headed home.
Some observations from the evening:
1. You cannot converse with Swiss Germans in regular German.
2. When a European tells you they only speak a little English they are lying: they're fluent. in fact, their English is better than yours
3. Mullets are hideous no matter where they are in the world. I saw a particularly snazzy one and asked Deborah what the haircut was called in Switzerland. She said she had no idea, so she asked Petra. Petra said "Uh, I dunno...bad?". It was the best answer anybody could have come up with.
4. Despite mullets being hideous, Italians think they're the best haircut ever, and slick them back with hairspray and wear them with really really fancy clothes. I'm getting my mullet next week.
5. The style of the moment is really tight jean.s with cowboy boots.
6. Europeans are excellent multi-taskers - they can talk on their cellphones (everybody has one), drink beer, AND hand-roll cigarettes all at once.
I am in European awe.
Petra's other friend Eva joined us, and the meeting of Deborah and Eva was hilarious. Petra and Eva greeted eachother with two kisses, and then Deborah and Eva both hesitated, then one leaned in to kiss while the other stuck out her hand, and then they switched. Finally they decided on kissing eachother's checks to say hello. Eva started towards me, about to lean in, and Petra said something to her that must have been "she has cooties, don't touch her", because Eva stopped and said "ah, hello. I'm Eva."
We went inside the almost empty auditorium and checked out the first band. They were very disappointing. The concert was called Planet Funk: the Illogical Consequence tour, so I was expecting some funky music. no such luck. This band was like an Italian version of Nickelback, only much much worse. The lead guitarist was really into theatrics and kept jumping in the air kicking his feet out, and finally sliding across the stage while playing the guitar. Very entertaining.
We grabbed a beer and went outside to give our ears a break. When we eventually went back in (I should clarify: when we eventually were forced back inside by throngs of people pushing and shoving) I was amazed at how many people were now inside. I'm talking there were thousands of people inside. We went upstairs and watched a bit from up there and I took a few pictures with my cellphone camera (because Kelsie has the other one). We joined the crowd downstairs and I was surprised at how many people knew the lyrics to the songs the band was singing. I had never heard of them before (apparently they are called planet funk, and have a new album out called illogical consequence), but judging by the excitement in the crowd they were a big deal. I really enjoyed them - the energy and mood of the crowd was infectious. But i was tired, and the other girls were anxious to leave so we headed home.
Some observations from the evening:
1. You cannot converse with Swiss Germans in regular German.
2. When a European tells you they only speak a little English they are lying: they're fluent. in fact, their English is better than yours
3. Mullets are hideous no matter where they are in the world. I saw a particularly snazzy one and asked Deborah what the haircut was called in Switzerland. She said she had no idea, so she asked Petra. Petra said "Uh, I dunno...bad?". It was the best answer anybody could have come up with.
4. Despite mullets being hideous, Italians think they're the best haircut ever, and slick them back with hairspray and wear them with really really fancy clothes. I'm getting my mullet next week.
5. The style of the moment is really tight jean.s with cowboy boots.
6. Europeans are excellent multi-taskers - they can talk on their cellphones (everybody has one), drink beer, AND hand-roll cigarettes all at once.
I am in European awe.