Using the bank holidays as a perfect excuse to have a proper catch up, Vanessa, a friend of mine for many years, decided to visit over Christi Himmelfahrt. For those of you who are not originally from Germany, this bank holiday is generally used by men to celebrate father’s day; however, there’s a strong tendency for younger men to use the day as an opportunity to get totally wasted in public, to display their splendid (though generally not so splendid) naked upper bodies, and to get the sunburn of their lives.
My friend planned to visit me from Wednesday to Friday (with Thursday being the bank holiday). Whilst I was waiting for her to arrive, and she was stuck in boring traffic on the A20 from Hamburg to Rostock, another friend of mine called and asked if I would join her on a night out, and after a short back and forth, Vanessa and I decided to hit Rostock’s nightlife. Since every weekday in Rostock offers a different place to go clubbing, and the day of her arrival was a Wednesday, our choice was kinda limited to the Keller (due to the lack of competition). After Vanessa had dropped off her stuff at my place, we got ready to go out. At about 10pm we started walking towards the city centre, and half an hour later we reached our destination: the Pornobrunnen (which you’ll find under the name Brunnen der Lebensfreude).
The Keller is right next to it, and therefore the fountain serves as a great meeting point. However, before my other friend had arrived, a stranger passed by and let us know that people have to queue for an hour in order to get in. Mutually Vanessa and I decided to scratch this student experience and to go for cocktails instead. So Vanessa, my friend that called, a couple of friends of hers, and I hit the Alex. The Alex is in general a really nice spot to go for a Brunch and yet again, competition is not really huge with frankly speaking McDonalds and a few similar places like the Alex being the only options. We got there at about a quarter past 11pm. Since it in general was a warm evening we decided to sit outside. The ambience was lovely, and since they provide blankets, we didn’t have to freeze at all. Well, at least the people who wear fleece jackets and rain coats on a night out. We ordered some drinks and some Pizzabrötchen, and enjoyed a nice chat under a clear sky and a quiet city surrounding. It is quite fascinating how quiet the inner city can be. During daytime it is buzzing with people and noise, during night, you can even hear the birds chirping. However, what really spoiled this nice evening was that Vanessa had to weit ridiculously long in order to get her drink. The story goes: when everyone else had already a bite to eat and half of us had their drinks, the other half was still waiting. Like 45 minutes later, Vanessa and the others finally got their cocktails. And to her excitement, she had to discover that her long desired drink didn’t even have a droplet of alcohol in it. So in the end, Vanessa’s first experience of student life in Rostock was a real big success story. Therefore my advice is, if you have a friend coming over, skip the clubbing and go straight for the cocktails. Even hit the Alex, it is still a really nice location, I guess we just were a tat unlucky that day.
On this lovely note, stay tuned for the next day of Vanessa’s trip to Rostock 🙂