All in a Days Work

There is always a question as to how things will be received in another country. What is acceptable or normal in the US isn’t always the case in other countries. Before we left the states, we got students to fill out a survey with questions about their drinking habits, preferences and thoughts on German laws. In order to make a comparison, we are using the same survey, just switching the US specific questions to deal with Germany. In order to hopefully be more successful, the survey was translated into German to elevate some of the confusion that might have come up with an English language survey. Surprisingly, many people were very willing to fill out the survey, although they giggled at a couple of the questions.

While at the train station getting surveys filled out, we also got a couple of interviews with people 17-28 talking about their drinking habits along with the laws and problems that face Germany. Luckily for us, we didn’t get into any trouble and no one cared that we were filming. In total we got 4 on camera interviews and more than 30 surveys.

Another cool part of our trip is that the journalism school is working on a promotional video of sorts that is documenting our trip and the process each group is going through to get the end results for the project. This consists of several group member interviews throughout the trip and filming of each group while we are filming and working throughout the city. It will not only serve as a great way to promote the school and future trips like this, but it will also be a really cool souvenir.

To wrap up the night, we ate dinner at this small beer garden/ restaurant that was the best meal I have had so far in Germany. I had beef (they don’t have a lot of chicken to my despair) and some of the pasta in lobster sauce. Amazing! Next we headed out to M-Park, a local night club, because it was buy one get one free drinks. Not every person on this trip is extremely bright and didn’t think that this could mean that one drink would cost double what a drink might cost elsewhere. After paying the cover charge to get in, it was straight to the dance floor where we danced the night away to such hits at “Ice Ice Baby,” “Yes,” “Respect” and “I Want to Dance With Somebody.” Man, they are really up to date with the music. It was a neat experience and there clubs are very similar to ours in the states except here you get a Garfield stamp when you leave. If you feel you need a little more exercise after the club, you can stop at Mcfit, the gym next door to the club.