Two and a half years after our inaugural BU/Texas reunion, the exchange students from 2005 gathered together again for another weekend of hilarity and crazy times in Sittard. Luckily, I have had the opportunity to visit everyone individually over the past two years, but I knew this would be the last opportunity for us all to come together in Europe for a long while. Unfortunately, a couple people couldn't make this year's gathering, but we still had a good crew of the Swedes (Richard, Maria and Jakob) and the Frenchies (Thomas and his girlfriend, Clemence).
After debating on a location and date for this year's reunion, we finally settled on coming back to Sittard at our house where we could all stay under one roof. I was hoping that the first weekend of April would allow for some warmer spring-like temps, but alas, this year's never-ending winter continued well into April. We didn't let the overcast skies and chilly temps affect our gathering, and commenced the reunion weekend Friday night with Dr Pepper shots. After a sleep-in Saturday, we had a few fun-tivities planned for the group. Last reunion, we embarked on a 3-country pub crawl through Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands (which is quite easy to do when each country is within 5 miles). This year, we decided to visit the Dreilandenpunt, where we had a Dreilanden-drink - 3 beers, in three counties, at the same time. Yes, I know, it's quite mind-blowing. We trekked to the highest point in the Netherlands where we visited the meeting point of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands and enjoyed a beer (well, not so much me) from each country.
After a light lunch at a cafe, we headed back to Sittard where we had a surprise in store for our guests - castle bowling! We did this twice before at the nearby Kasteel Limbricht, and knew this would be the perfect fun-tivity to share with friends. The medieval bowling alley ambiance is great and after our hour of bowling, we enjoyed sitting in the courtyard basking in the evening sun that finally decided to make an appearance.
That night, we treated our guests to an authentic Tex-Mex dinner of fajitas, margaritas and Dos Equis. After more Dr Pepper shots, it was time to hit the Sittard Markt for yet another version of "drinking around the square." This game was a huge success last time, and we decided to try and replicate this fun goal by having a beer at every bar on the Sittard square (skipping the restaurants). Perhaps because we are two years older and got started at the house much earlier, we didn't quite make it to all the bars we did during our last adventure, but I'm still pretty proud of our progress.
 |
| The ladies - Clemence, Maria and myself |
Oh, and did I mention that we all wore silly hats? I adore this group so much because they are always down for anything. And the best part was that other than a few quizzical stares, the locals really didn't think much of it. Gotta love those Dutch!
 |
| Jakob and Richard getting serious in their silly hats |
 |
| Clemence and Thomas getting wacky |
 |
 |
| the Swedish lovebirds, Maria and Jakob |
 |
| Gettin' down at Ernesto's |
After a final Sunday morning group breakfast, it was time for us all to go our separate ways once more. In two days time, we managed to reminisce about all the wonderful shared memories made that span our time together in Texas, during my many visits to see these friends in their home countries, and now with new memories made over the weekend. I am already looking forward to reminiscing again during our next reunion - hopefully in Texas. I feel blessed to have had six years in Europe to maximize my time with these incredible friends. During this time, I have attended two of their weddings, visited them on numerous trips to both Paris and Stockholm and shared in the joy of new babies. Though I am sad our reunions will be much more infrequent, I know these friendships that began in 2005 will last a lifetime, spanning continents, with a foundation based on a love of Texas. After all, Texas is a state of mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment