A new first.

I think I have mentioned before how I do get excited about firsts. The obvious of first dates, first kisses, first time waiting by the phone for a new first to call. However I get especially excited about firsts that are that in the true meaning of the word. Something I have never ever done before. Yesterday was such a first.

As you may or may not know Germany doesn’t have a mall culture. They are few and far and for most parents a place where not to bring your children as opposed to dropping them there with some lunch money and a rat pack of friends.
Instead of malls my friends and I hang out at:

- Mc Donald’s for the times we had a one hour break – official or unofficial – as it was just a short trip from school. Admittingly this was no better than a mall.

- The Italian ice cream parlour Zanella for after school meetings. I cannot even begin to recall how many hours I spent there day after day, how much money I wasted on toasts, cappuccinos, and cake, and how much I must have annoyed my mother with all of this.

- Pustekuchen (don’t even ask what that may mean), a sort of bar/bistro establishment for smooth day- to night-time transformation that I fondly remember for crispy chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce. One time my friend Silja and I decided to ditch a field trip with our creepy art teacher and instead spent the entire day there. We managed to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner; played darts, read magazines, and did not get bored for 12 hours straight. I think to this day we hold the record.

There were probably a few more in between, but those were the main places we hung out, we socialized, and yes, where we met boys. No mall in sight, no mall needed. Different countries, different cultures, but I have thus grown up with a huge dislike of malls for both shopping and socializing purposes. It is just not in my DNA and my complexion doesn’t look good in fluorescent lighting.
Yesterday everything changed. I had my very first date at a mall. I became Dorothy and braved the wizard of malls: Canal Walk. I got lost in the parking garage when I got there. As you can imagine stuff like that makes the German in me, who can’t be late even if I try (and I have tried!), very nervous. Not ideal.

But as it turns out malls are not so bad after all.

1. They do serve wine.

2. There is candle light to be found.

3. If you take a date, he can help you find your car. (Keeping in mind the mall doesn’t provide those. You gotta bring your own date. Alternatively ask a car guard though he won’t buy you wine.)

4.Window shopping en tête à tête when all shops are closed is in fact so great I shall never allow any future children of mine to go to a mall. Ever. Sorry, kids!

5.Window shopping…ups, I already wrote that. Now you know how great it is.

So here … let’s go to the mall!*


*A line which you will only appreciate after having your own successful date at a mall or after watching How I Met Your Mother.