A night owt

I’d heard (well, more precisely, read) that Berlin is the nightlife capital of Germany and, to a large extent, Europe. Because its population is pretty young, with a lot of university students and people who come here to be edgy and interesting, there is a large variety of clubs, bars, dance spots, etc.

I have pretty much no experience in clubbing or bars (with the exception of the Irish Times and a few other Worcester bars, where I would go with people from school, have a drink or two, and stay until 12:30 or 1, since we often had class the next day). And I figure that seeing the Berlin night scene counted as a foray into cultural exchange. So, when one of my friends from orientation invited me to go to a disco with her roommate and some of the roommate’s friends, I said yes and put on my dancing shoes (which also happen to be the black boots I wear to school, but never mind).

Obviously I can’t extrapolate from one group to the entire German population, but I suspect this is true for a lot of people here: when the Germans decide to do a night out, they take it seriously. I arrived at my friend’s apartment at 8:30, when she and her roommate were still prettifying. After her roommate brewed up some fortifying cups of coffee, we headed over to the local Kneipe at about 10. A Kneipe is a bar with sort of a special connotation; it’s a place that usually has a dedicated set of locals who all know one another and meet regularly for drinks, card games and chat.

After being introduced to the roommate’s friends, I ordered a beer (when I asked what beers one of my new acquaintances would recommend, an older man at the bar overheard and said, “An American? Better give her a Kölsch.” A Kölsch is a very light beer without a whole lot of alcohol). We stayed there until a little after 11, then took the U-Bahn to the disco, which was in the basement of an older brick building; it was (obviously) dark by that point, so I couldn’t see what the building had originally been used for.

The disco was divided into several rooms, each with its own DJ and style of music. After getting another round of drinks (including an embarrassing episode on my part, since I couldn’t hear the price the bartender was telling me for my beer and kept trying to give him the right amount; my friend finally realized what he was saying and handed him the remaining change) we headed downstairs into the sub-basement, where there was a smoke machine and a DJ playing music mostly without words. After dancing there for a while, we explored some of the other rooms, including one with a vaguely 80’s theme.

A little after 3, we decided to head back to my friend’s place (I was staying the night with her and her roommate). When we got back off the U-Bahn, though, we went back to the original bar for what somebody called “a parting drink.” We stayed there for another half an hour or so before my friend and I (who had only gotten water) decided to head back to her apartment. We got there a little before 5, had some bread and Nutella, and went to bed about 5:30.

When we woke up about 5 hours later (well, I woke up first and then woke my friend up; I was sort of hungry, but didn’t want to go rummaging through their kitchen) the roommate, who’s a German student a few years older than us and a complete sweetheart, fetched rolls from a store nearby, and we had breakfast. Then I came back to my apartment, took a walk out in the sunshine in an attempt to fend off tiredness, and fell asleep about 9.

I had a fantastic time – some “serious fun” would be a good way to put it – but next time, I think a endurance-building nap in the preceding afternoon will be in order.