The Hard Way

Alright David, here you are :D

So, the first Saturday that I was here (which was like 2 days after I got here) I went out drinking with my cousin Alex, my cousin Domenica aka Niki, and her boyfriend Jürgen (man I hope I spelled that right...). Now, where my aunt and uncle live is a relatively small village called Horn, which is about an hour away from Vienna. The drinking age here (here as in Austria, not just the village) is 16, so obviously I meet that requirement. We went to a pub whose name I can't even remember, but it was small and really nice, and pretty busy with the youth of the village - 'youth' meaning anybody 30 and under, lol. we sat down at a table in the corner where it was completely unoccupied, and I basically told Alex to order me things he thought were good, since I don't get to drink that often and didn't really know too much about what I liked and what I didn't. So we all started off with a beer. And, for about €2 - abzóut $3 - you get twice the amount of beer you'd get at an American bar, and it tastes waaaaaayy better, too. Then Alex got us something called a 'Ferrari,' which is red bull and something else, some kind of liquor, I don't remember, but it tasted sweet. It was really good. Then I think I had another beer, and then another Ferrari. Now, I don't normally get to drink a whole lot, but a few times Leanna has had friends over and I drink A LOT, of al different kinds of things, and I don't get sick (i.e., no puking, no 'spins,' no hangover the next day). Then I asked Alex to order me something stronger, so he ordered me what if I recall was a vanilla-flavored rum & coke. I think I had 2 of those before I asked for something stronger, and he and I each had a shot of marillen (Austrian German word for apricots - German German is apricosen) schnapps, and then I think I had one more rum and coke. After that the pub was closing, but keep in mind it was about 330 am by this time. so we paid our tab and then moved on to the next pub which was right on down the block. Oh! I forgot to mention, while we were at the first pub I met a lot of Niki and Alex's friends who were all out drinking as well. I met Niki's best friend Tini, nickname for Cristine, I think, and Tini's boyfriend Reinhard, and they're both really cool. Tini is super nice and is ALWAYS smiling, I remember thinking 'I wish I could be that way...' lol. and Reinhard is really funny, I don't remember a whole lot of what we talked about, but I know we talked a lot, lol. At one point we were singing Bloodhound Gang songs together (!!), haha. My German got progressively better the more I drank, and while I thought everybody's English was excellent, they told me it was the same for them as well, that their English got better the drunker they got. Everybody tried teaching some new words in German. Not anything *useful* but it was still a lot of fun. I have those words written down on a piece of paper somewhere, lol. (On a side note, Niki and Alex speak more or less perfect English, but a lot of that probably comes from the fact that their mother is sort of a native speaker. Alex even speaks English with an American accent! I nearly shit a brick when I heard him.) Okay, so we went to the next pub. Niki and Jürgen left about a half hour later (at 4 am) but I wanted to stay, which meant Alex had to stay with me. There I met Tini's brother Georg (I think that's how it's spelled, it's basically the German name for George, pronounced 'gay-org,' but kind of mashed into one syllable). Of course, he was also nice. I remember looking outside the pub windows and it was getting light out! I was like, WTF?? So Alex and I left shortly after that, it was about 530 am at this point, and it sure as hell didn't feel as if we were at that pub for 2 whole hours (oh, while I was there, I had another beer, another rum and coke, and I finished Niki's beer). We all went outside the pub prepared to go our separate ways and go home, and I called everybody together for a group hug, since it was the funnest night I could ever remember having. so Alex and I walked back home, and we went upstairs to go to sleep. Well, pretty much as soon as I lay down and closed my eyes, I started to get dizzy. So I went into the bathroom and waited to see if I was going to throw up, since I didn't feel so good. Not surprisingly, I did, but not a whole lot, and when there was a break in the flow (for lack of a better phrase, lol) I went to my room to get my blanket so I could sleep on the bathroom floor in case I suddenly had to puke again. I remember that at one point I fell asleep with my face against the toilet seat, haha. but then I snuggled into my comforter and passed out. Then the next morning (probably just a couple of hours later) I woke up when my uncle came into the bathroom when he woke up. I guess he was a little confused at first, but apparently I said something to him like 'I think I'll be a little more careful next time.' I later heard from Niki that he thought it was kind of funny. Heck, even I thought it was funny. So I slept for a few more hours, then got up in time for lunch. I actually didn't have a hangover at all, but I was really, really tired, so after lunch I went back to sleep for a few more hours. And actually, for about 3 days after that, the left side of my face and my bottom lip were numb, which I'm sure was from falling asleep with my face on the toilet seat - unconscious bodies are heavier for some reason, and I probably rested right on a nerve in my face. In any case, It's back to normal.

...So, that is my story. Gonna do it all again when Alex comes back from Vienna when he's got time off from work in a couple of weeks. :)