Nein mann, ich will noch nicht gehen...

Ich will noch ein bisschen mit meinen Deutsche Freunden tanzen! - No idea if this is even correct, because after all these weeks of hanging out with my German squad, I'm still as awful at German as I was at highschool... But at least I can ask a guy to buy me a beer now. Let's talk about what Erasmus is all about: beer! Kidding - friendship, of course. 

Belgium and Germany. What an odd couple. Of all people I was expecting to meet here in Nice, I never thought I would become friends with "the Germans". Somehow, I found them too normal, not exotic enough. Before my arrival, I had this image of me hanging out with the Niçois, or some other mediterrean species like Spaniards or Italians. Instead, I found them to be quite upon themselves... Slightly disappointed, I turned to the expats: Germans.

History has taught us that Germans come in large numbers (sorry for the joke, Germans), so at some inevitable point, I would have to face them. So when one day I ran into them, to my great surprise, I actually liked them! Maybe it's our destin. I mean, can it be more obvious? Our countries share the same border, our flags the same colours, our love for beer runs equally as deep and, of course, we speak some creole version of each other's language... And it is by means of language that our alliance began... 

"Möchtest du mich zu einen Bier einladen?". That notorious sentence. I was instantly baptised the weird Belgian girl, because I would randomly appraoch German guys and ask for a beer. Not only was it awkward, but the worst part was that I prefered wine. It was some practical joke my German friend A. had put me up with. She taught me the sentcence and pushed me to ask my German friends-to-be. After ignoring me the first three times, I finally got my beer, and so I gradually got introduced into the German squad. In truth, of course, it's the Belgian squad, which Germans have joined - at least, that's what my Belgian friend L. and I like to believe. 

L. was my very first friend here. On my second day in Nice, as I had just joined the ESN WhatsApp-group, I got a phone call from an unknown Beglian number. I thought it was either my banker, my dentist or, worst case: Proximus... Instead, a voice with a slight West-Flemish accent introduced herself and said she saw a Belgian phone number in the group and decided to randomly ring me up. Bird of feather, you know. So, that same day, we met. That same week, we became friends. And today, we still are.

Since we didn't have school that first week, we hung out at the beach, cooked together and did some trips to Monaco, Cannes and Menton. Trips during which we would meet our future friends: Italians, Chinese, Americans, Brazilians, and, last but not least, our future squad!

How it all began: first trip outside of Nice!
(September 2017, Iles des Lérins)

First time hanging out with the girls
(September 2017, Menton)

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