Einundzwanigster Geburtstag

21 years old. That used to sound so old, so mature, so grown. Now, not so much. Being 21 really puts 21 in perspective. It's so young. Maybe I just feel young. But I feel really old and ancient at the same time, which is ridiculous. Oh goodness. One thing I do know for certain is that 21 brings me into a whole new ball game, I'm officially an "adult" these days. Shit gets real from this point on folks. What a scary and thrilling thought.

I love birthdays. Especially mine. I always get super excited for them (like counting down from January to May and such) and I am always let down. Not that all my birthdays have sucked, most of them have been freaking amazing, it's just that I place way too high of expectations on them that can't be fulfilled. Which is ridiculous, I know. Well, this year was a little different than usual. To be honest, I was actually dreading my birthday. Why? 1. Being 21 didn't have the same significance that it should have, considering I have been able to drink the moment I stepped into Germany 2. I wouldn't be able to celebrate it with my friends and family back home 3. I figured nothing special would happen. I decided because of these reasons to not get excited for my birthday like I do every year. In fact, I planned on not thinking about it all.

My strategy worked (sort of) all the way up until the end of April/beginning of May. Around this time Nacha, Ivanka, and Daniel started bugging me about what I wanted to do for my birthday. Especially Daniel. I kept shrugging it off saying we would figure something out, I just wanted to go on an adventure somewhere. But Dan kept at it. And eventually we had all these jokes about what I would do for my birthday, like going sky diving or driving a Porsche. Just jokes. Sky diving is a no go because I'm quite scared of heights... that adventure shall be left for another day. And I couldn't actually drive a Porsche for two reasons: my California license isn't valid here after 6 months and don't know how to drive a stick shift. Eventually the Porsche jokes turned into Mercedes jokes. Mainly because I could actually drive a Mercedes because they are automatic, and because there is space for more people. I didn't think much of all this talk though. Dan was just messing with me.

About a week before my birthday my friends were able to squeeze a birthday schedule out of me. Dan and I would have breakfast, go get Starbucks, then meet up with Ivanka and Nacha, take a train to Baden-Baden, explore the city for the afternoon, come back to Karlsruhe, and have a little dinner at Nacha and Bernie's house. I got my adventure and it sounded like a pretty fun day.

So May 30th rolled around and there I was, 21. It was a strange feeling. I'd finally reached "the age". I was a ball full of energy; my attempts to not be excited about my birthday thrown out the window. Dan came over to my apartment and we made breakfast. Well, I made breakfast. And I failed miserably at my pancake making because I put too much salt in them on accident. They weren't horrible though, especially with the strawberries and whipped cream on top (Dan would disagree I'm sure haha).

Then it was off to the city to get Starbucks. Which I know doesn't seem like a big deal, but for me it was a total treat. Starbucks is ungodly expensive in Europe. Worse than at home. Thus, I've only had it here maybe three times. So I'm sure you can imagine my total excitement. I got a Coffee Frappachino (without whipped cream) and it was heavenly.

Walking from the center of the city back to my house, Daniel started joking about the Mercedes again. (And Hummers. He knows how I loathe those things). He said that he really did get me a Mercedes for the day. I told him I wouldn't believe him until my ass was in the seat. Well, when we got to my street, he pulled a set of car keys of his pocket. Foot in mouth. I certainly did believe him once my ass was in the seat. I was stunned, and pretty darn stoked. Such a great surprise.

Daniel, Starbucks, and a Mercedes. Life is good.

Daniel drove us to go pick up Ivanka. Once we got Ivy, we hopped on the Autobahn and headed to Baden-Baden (Nacha was to meet us there). I stuck my head and arm out of the window in pure giddy glee the whole ride. We picked up Nacha at the Baden-Baden train station and drove towards the center of the city while deciding what to do. Well, adventure found us in the form of a castle. One of us saw a sign for the Altes Schloss. We all decided it was worth a look and drove up a winding road to where the castle sat atop a hill.

Driving on the Autobahn.

The Altes Schloss (also known as Schloss Hodenbaden), has been around since 1102 A.D. That's pretty intense, if you ask me. You can definitely see the wear and tear that time has created on the brown stones that make up the walls. Yet the castle manages to still to give off a feeling of solid power and beauty. The four of us spent a good hour or so exploring the various areas of the castle, climbing lots of narrow stairs, and catching breath taking views of the valley that Baden-Baden sits in. The girls and I spent a majority of our time there pretending we were royalty.

Altes Schloss entrance.

Exploring the ground floor.

Stairs aplenty!

The view was amazing.

We left the castle to go into town. After a short drive, we parked, and then the weather decided to give me a nice birthday present: rain, thunder, and lightening. And it was humid on top of all that. Ever so delightful. But, in true German fashion we just ignored the weather as best we could and continued on with our day. As a group we decided that we were hungry, so we got some Leberkäse (similar to the idea of meatloaf) and Coke. Delicious.

We arrive in the city just in time for a thunderstorm. Here we are hiding under a tree canopy.

The four of us spent the next hour or two walking around the city. We saw the casino, lots of fancy stores, old people dressed ever so fabulously (Baden-Baden is a place where a lot of rich people retire), the Trinkhalle, the Oos River, the baths that the city is famous for, and the Roman bath ruins. The Roman bath ruins were probably my favorite. It's crazy to think this city was founded by Romans almost 2,000 years ago.

Some of the places we saw in Baden-Baden.

The Oos River.

Tree hugging and chillin' by a pretty fountain.

The Roman bath ruins.

After a nice afternoon, we jumped back in the car and headed back to Karlsruhe. We needed to be back by 6 p.m., that way Nacha and Ivanka had time to cook dinner. We dropped the girls off at Nacha's, and then Dan and I headed back to my house to hang out and wait for dinner to be ready.

Much sooner than I expected, the girls called and told us to come on over. As we walked to Nacha's, I couldn't get over how excited Daniel was. Totally cracking me up. In a easy breezy five minutes we made it to the apartment and rode the elevator up to the fourth floor. I knocked on the door. I slightly confused why Nacha hadn't opened it already, but figured they must be doing last minute details for dinner.

Then the door opened and all of my friends yelled "SURPRISE!" Oh man, was I totally surprised. I just about died. Before I could get over my shock, everyone started hugging me and telling me happy birthday. I felt so special and loved. I couldn't believe they threw me a surprise party. I've always wanted one. It's more than I could have asked for for this birthday. So much love.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Happy birthday!

Then Nacha, Bernie, and Ivy presented me with my birthday gift: paints, brushes, canvases, candies, a headband, and sunglasses. Such a great present! (Later in the party Albert gave me a present as well... a soccer ball. Oh my, was I excited).

My birthday gifts.

Then Dan's mom appeared with snacks and a cheesecake. All this was added to the snack table, which everyone totally devoured throughout the course of the night. Nacha also made me a cake: my favorite.... ice cream cake! Two cakes for one birthday girl?! Muahaha. So spoiled.

Nacha put three candles in my ice cream cake and lit them, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me (once in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese). I made three wishes and blew out the candles. After that we obviously ate both cakes. Yummmers!

Cake, cake, cake!

Hanging out at eating cake and snacks.

Then everyone just hung out and talked for quite some time while music played in the background. Bernie put on The Beach Boys for awhile, just for me haha. I had my "1st drink"... which was silly of course considering I've been able to drink since October. All the same it meant a lot to me. Now when I go home I will be legal to drink too!

My very "1st" beer.

 While everyone was eating and talking, I made them take part in a ridiculous game. There's no official name for it, but I usually just call it the "Animal Game." The rules are simple. One person has a camera, and the other person is in front of the camera. The person with the camera will call out an animal and then the other person must act like that animal. While they do this the camera person will take a picture. The result is really hilarious pictures. We had a lot of laughs doing this.

The animal game.

 After playing the Animal Game, Daniel brought out another surprise for me: Rootbeer. He knows how much I love it, so he somehow managed to get me some even though it's pretty rare in Germany.  I made a rootbeer float, and ah goodness, it was ah-mazing. Everyone teased me about it though. Rootbeer and rootbeer floats are very, very American. All my friends think rootbeer is too sweet and really gross. I don't care though, I still think it's awesome.

Me and my rootbeer float.

Later we all played Celebrity. For those of you not familiar with this game, I'll give you a little break down of the rules. You have your group sit in a circle. Then everyone gets a post-it note and has to write the name of a celebrity on it. As long as it's someone everyone will be familiar with, it can be anyone who is dead, alive, or fictional. Then you take your post-it note and stick it on the person to your left's forehead. Then you pick one person to start. That person will ask a yes or no question such as, "Am I male or female?" and the group will respond. If the answer is "yes", then that person gets to ask another question. If the answer is "no", then you go to the next person on the left and they get to ask a question. And so on and so forth. Basically you use the questions to figure out who you are. Towards the end of the game people start guessing who they think they are. But caution, once you guess a name, that's your last question! If you get it right you win, if not, you lose. It's a great party game! It was a pretty long round since there were so many of us, be we all had a great time.

Our game of Celebrity.

Ivanka was Edward Cullen.

Not long after our game of Celebrity, hugs were given and goodbyes were said. It was well past midnight at this point and it was time for everyone to be getting home. We took some group pictures before everyone left that totally crack me up, we were quite the hyper bunch.

Theses guys are a crack up.

Feeling the love.

Ahhhhmygawsh. This day was almost perfect. I am so amazed by my friends. And so thankful. They took what I thought was going to be a mediocre birthday and made it amazing. Definitely my best birthday ever! What a great way to start off a year. I feel so blessed and loved. Especially by Nacha, Ivy, Bernie, and Dan. That bunch. They made my day absolutely magical. All my friends did. And for that I am forever grateful. May 30, 2012... a day for the history books. Well. At least my history books.