Birthday Party

Last Saturday night, post basketball game, some of the guys were headed to a friend's birthday party. Mike and I decided last minute to go, it was a theme party so the guys had to dress up in suits and the girls were supposed to dress as "Playboy bunnies". I didn't have that costume, so just put on a black/white dress I had brought from home and we were off to the party.

Our dress up.

The guys & I

I didn't know what to expect in the night ahead of us...

We soon arrived at a very nice house where several people greeted us by saying "enchante" with 3 kisses on alternating cheeks. I had no idea what was going on, we asked the guys we came with what the word means, it's translated to "nice to meet you."

This place was pretty cool, there was a photographer taking pictures, plenty of alcohol and food, loud music with a dance floor, an extreme amount of decorations and a gorgeous balcony with a beautiful view. 

Mike and I, along with the other guys ended up at one side of the room mingling with eachother...after a while a girl came up to us speaking French. I asked her (in French) if she spoke English, she signaled for me to "hold on" then left quickly...she came back with a girl who spoke several languages(including English) fluently to translate. Shortly, I found out that it was her brithday party and we were welcome to all the food and alcohol we wanted.

I continued to talk to the girl who could speak English (Natalia) for awhile...found out she is originally from Brazil (as were most of the people there.) Also, her and the birthday girl (Sylvia) were roommates when the attended the university in Fribourg.  She has a boyfriend from Australia, so she mostly speaks English because of him, but also speaks German, Portugese and French.

Later on in the night, Sylvia grabbed me and brought me to the dance floor to teach me a Brazilian dance, (Natalia was also there to help with the translations). It was some sort of really popular dance in Brazil where you start out really slow and then move faster and faster with music. I was awful at it, but it was pretty fun attempting the dance with the girls. 

After the song they brought me to the "alcohol room", Natalia told me that lots of Brazilians have these to hold thier expensive alcohol. We were each poured "Grappa", which I was informed from Italy and something you drink at the end of the meal or at the end of the night. We all said "Sante" (cheers) and drank it down like a shot. 

I got video of the end of the "Happy Birthday" song...

Then, shortly after we left for home (it was now approximately 4am). People around here don't go out til usually after midnight and stay out as late (or I guess you would say early) as 6am! It's crazy, Mike and I were a mess the next day...but definitely worth it. It was so fun to experience a party the way they do it out here and to meet so many new, fun and different people!