The last exams of the year are almost over, the summer has started and everyone is super excited to go back to their families after the first year of university. One of my friends lives in Germany and invited me over for the weekend and of course I went! I had never been in Germany before so I was excited to experience some new things.

First thing I noticed was the slow change from Dutch to German in the trains, stepping over in Venlo and running to the German train through a whole crowd of people speaking German was a cool experience. When I arrived, he gave me a tour of the beautiful city of Cologne, one of the tallest cathedrals in Germany that managed to survive the second world war. It was nice to do touristy things again, enjoying the break after the exams. My friend let me in on the little conflict between Cologne and Dusseldorf, saying that there’s a competition between them about which beer, people and city is better. Naturally we had to investigate all of these things.

What I can report back is that Cologne is a much more historic city, whereas Dusseldorf more modern and filled with shopping complexes. As for the beer, we went to several different breweries and out of the two Kölsch (Cologne) and Altbier (Dusseldorf) the first definitely wins. After a bike ride along the Rhine, a trip on his motorcycle and spending time with his parents, the weekend came to an end. First time in Germany was a success!