In the first international edition, Bart visited three
German students and had a good conversation with them during a typically German
dinner!
This ‘Thuis bij…’ article is a very exceptional one.
It’s been a long time since we’ve written this column, so we’ve decided to
switch things up by doing an international edition. I immediately knew who to visit:
meinen Deutsche Freunden Johannes Richter, Jakob Berger und Paul Dopp, three
IBA-students in their first year. We agreed to meet at their Relaxation HQ,
which is Johannes’ crib at Talia, Nijmegen. Nine o’ clock sharp, Deutsche
Pünktlichkeit.
The colorful building is a well-known spot in
Nijmegen. It contains of 347 apartments, of which Johannes managed to obtain
one. Living at the eighth floor, he has a majestic view over the city. I got a
very warm welcome, as Johannes had already started to cook.
Johannes, Jakob and Paul are familiar faces at the
Radboud University. These first year IBA-students can often be found taking a
break at the Synergy chamber and join most of the Synergy activities. Johannes and Jakob joined the Atlas Trip to
Istanbul and Paul showed us his skiing skills in Valloire. Because they hang
around with Dutch people often, they have blended with the Dutch students at our
university. Jakob actually surprised me by having a conversation with me in perfect
Dutch. He’s from a town at the border and was very familiar with Dutch language
before moving here. So be careful when you hear these guys speaking German: we
might not always understand what they are saying, but they perfectly understand
us!
Back to the important things in life: the food. In
advance I had specifically asked for some well-know German food like knödels
and schnitzels, but Johannes insisted that his spicy pasta was typical for the German
kitchen. Paul was happy to explain: ‘I mean, we only eat knödels at Christmas.
The rest of the year we cook pasta.’ And boy, it was good. Of course I made
sure that there was some beer and plenty of rap bangers involved. When I asked
what their favorite Dutch food was, they chose the ‘kapsalon’, which seems to
be a popular dish amongst Germans. The least favorite was our bread. Johannes: ‘It
sucks.’
After we had filled our stomachs we headed over to the
Marktplein for a last beer at fellow students Victor’s, Lars’ and Sam’s place. As
we looked at all the cyclists passing by, Johannes asked if there was any place
at all where Dutch people don’t bike. I could not answer that.
Unfortunately I had to head back at twelve, since the
day of a journalist starts very early in the morning, but I’m sure they had a
great night after that. I’d like to thank these blokes for the fun evening I
had. Danke schön!
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