Friday - Ritter Butzke

Friday, 16th March '12

During the day, not much was done. I spent most of Friday in my little apartment in Potsdam. At around 4:30 in the afternoon, I decided I didn't want to just sit around my apartment any more and made my way towards Potsdam HBF. Upon arrival, I had heard nothing from Gabby or Emma and became alarmed that I had not been in contact. About 20 minutes and horribly old, soggy McDonalds chips later, Gabby eventually contacted me to say that they would be meeting at Pub à la Pub - A student bar near the main station.

We spent most of our evening there, until probably around 8 or 9pm, I'm not too sure. We had drinks with some of the other international students. They were all students who would be taking the Deutschkurs with Gabby or Emma. I don't take the course as I am of a higher level and it's apparently not necessary for me. Even though my hold on the language is tenuous at best. Anyway, so there were students from Brazil (there are a LOT of Brazilians here, who knew?), Finland, Denmark, Paris, America, etc. Most international students are still from continental Europe, so we were still quite foreign all things considered. 

Anyway, from there, we took the long journey back to Berlin. Highlight of the evening may have been Emma squatting outside her front door because she couldn't hold it in any longer. Ah, I had such good foresight and pee-d just before we left. Emma was not so lucky, to my endless amusement. 

Spent a few hours with Emma and her flatmates. She is one lucky girl! Both her room mates are amazingly nice, her apartment is in a nice area and her bedroom  is HUGE. I wouldn't be surprised if her room was bigger than my whole apartment. It's crazy. I also tried the infamous Berlin drink, Club Mate, and was surprised to find I do actually like it. It tastes like some strange mix of tea with cider? Berlin's alternative to V. Guess I'll be living off that while here!

At around midnight we finally headed off to Ritter Butzke. The journey itself was entertaining. We stopped near the S-Bahn to get a mixer for Emma and her bottle of Vodka and for me to get some food. Emma got shamelessly hit on by the old men who served us, already drunk by this point, Emma told them that she was a lesbian and that I was her lover. It was seriously the longest wait for chips of my life. They were so creepy. 

We eventually took a Taxi to this place and met Daniel, who promptly disappeared again to work. The club was made up of three rooms, the top floor was closed that night however. There was a main room, with a main stage, bar, dance floor and separate coat room and bathroom. I was absolutely shocked and appalled to find out that a Vodka Lemonade was 6,50 Euro! Seriously! Ridiculous! It was a lucky thing that I wasn't drinking, cause holy hell that's expensive. 

I don't really know what to say about Ritter Butzke. The feel of the place and look of the place reminded me a lot of Spectrum (which has apparently been renovated??), so let's say the old Spectrum. It was dark, a little grungy. The music was electronic music, and I spent most of the night dancing with Emma and Nica.

Emma and I spent a fair amount of time outside the club, drinking her previously stashed bottle of Vodka with some random German guy. They both were pretty drunk, and talking animatedly about something I didn't really comprehend, some half-german, half-english jibberish, so I left them to it and went back inside. 

I quite liked the second room, it was less crowded and air-conditioned, so it wasn't as hot. It also was brighter lit and had really cute decorations on the ceiling, umbrellas and fake flowers, etc. It was quaint.

Anyway, most of the night I spent dancing as I said. Emma eventually came back in, but she was a little worse for wear, so I put her in a taxi to get home. I was strangely energised and although it wasn't the greatest time of my life, I still stayed longer - maybe because I had nowhere to go. Haha! 

In the early hours in the morning, the air was a thick smog of cigarette smoke and I decided it was time to leave. So at about 6am I made my long way home, back to Potsdam. 

There is a drawer of dirty washing that, when it's opened, a stench of smoke and disgust pours out of it. I cannot wait to get that stuff washed! Ugh, Berlin. Why do you still allow smoking indoors?? STOP THAT! 

Once Daniel puts together the video for the club, I'll post it so you have a better idea of what it was like.