I got a mitfahr to Aachen with a girl who had lived in California for a year, so we spoke English for most of the ride. She agreed to drop me off at the train station in Aachen, since there wasn’t really much to do in the city itself. I hopped a train back to Cologne, where I had stayed about a week earlier. I couldn’t get into the hostel I had stayed in before, but they helped me get setup at a place accross town.

I introduced myself to my roommates in the hostel, and again found a german who had spent time living in the U.S.A. Ronja and Martin were friends from their secondary school in Bavaria. Ronja (pronounced rohnya), had lived in mississippi and had a very curious hybrid accent, with distinct southern qualities, while Martin was originally Croatian, and had learned English in school. It quickly became clear that their English was miles better than my German, so we again made the switch. It’s instances like this that sometimes make me wonder why I learned German instead of Spanish, as so many German speakers already speak English also! (I guess I’ll just have to become trilingual, instead.)

The three of us have a few beers while enjoying a self-administered walking tour of Cologne. It felt strange being the expert, as I knew the city better than the two residents, having spent time in Cologne the week prior. The next day I woke up and felt like crap. I ended up sleeping most of the day with punctuated movie-watching sessions. I was surprised to meet up with Ronja and Martin again, who had left early that morning with the intent of hitch-hiking to Amsterdam. I guess the rain disuaded them from standing on the edge of the highway. I was happy to go out for some food with them, before returning to my room at the hostel to get more rest.

The next day I woke up feeling much better, though still with a runny nose, and set off to meet a couchsurfer who I had contacted a couple days before. I decided to spend a bit more time in Cologne since it already had a nice vibe, and I didn’t want to spend a ton of money travelling over the next few days, when I would be coming most of the way back to visit Sara Schlegel (a German friend who studied with me at UCSD) in Goettingen only 5 days later.

I followed some directions and hopped on a train and a bus to a little town northwest of Cologne. My host, Wolfram, came to meet me at the bus station. He greeted me with something along the lines of: “Hi. Are you Karl Keefer?” The most respectful and appropriate reply I could manage was “Oh my God. You’re giant!” My host Wolfram was at least 6’6″, but was definitely a gentle giant.

It was already the evening so Wolfram and I decided to do someshopping for a little dinner we would prepare back at his flat. We put together a little meal and filled up before heading out to explore. We played some frisbee and did a walking tour of the town, which included a cute little petting zoo attached to a fruit market. After the local tour we headed back into Cologne to see the areas between the cinemas, bars, and named squares that define downtown Cologne. Wolfram definitely got me my bearings, and after awhile chatting as we walked, he mentioned a big park near the university where several jugglers and other circus-y people meet up.

We both got a good sleep and made our way to the park at the University of Cologne he had mentioned the night before. It was a nice summer afternoon, but I had my doubts about the turnout for a tuesday in the middle of summer. Doesn’t seem like high-time for students to be around (or so my experience in San Diego would have me think). There were a ton of people out just picnicking and playing frisbee or soccer, and not for any particular reason other than just to be there. It’s a scene that almost never plays itself out in the U.S.A. and I definitely think we could use a bit more of it. We spent at least 6 hours on the green, and that’s a conservative estimate considering we didn’t leave until about 11pm. (side note for jugglers: I managed to maintain an 8-club 2-count triples pattern for at least 10 rounds with some German guy in the park)

The next day I decided to head back to the grass again for another day of juggling and acrobates. I had already made plans to switch up to a different couchsurfing host so as not to burden Wolfram too much, and we agreed to meet on the grass where all the jugglers go. My next host, Reinhold, and his existing surfer Lorene (from France), came out to the field in the evening, and we just chilled out again pretty late into the evening.

Reinhold and I really hit it off, and we had a lot to talk about, considering all of the travelling he has done, including a massive tour of California (He’s probably seen more than I have!). The three of us enjoyed a few drinks, and got some good food from a local mini brewery before heading home.

After a few chilled days in Cologne, and some great Couchsurfing experiences, I met up with my mitfahr (rideshare) near University of Cologne who was going to take me to meet the Schlegel twins in Goettingen, Germany!