Metz, Metz, Everybody

I am proud to announce......an enjoyable experience in the Metz area. Poor old Metz gets kind of a bad rap from GTL kids, since we're here as students more so than tourists. This means our only impressions of Metz are nasty classes and having to deal with the snoots at the train station. But not last night. Last night Metz, France was favorable. You go, Metz, France.

To be completely honest, most of the enjoyableness came from Nancy, France, but it's close enough to Metz to be considered "home" for all intensive purposes this summer. The six of us hopped on a train to Nancy last night in search of a birthday dinner. We were all pretty hungry, so we sort of went in the first place we saw. A pizza/Italian restaurant that everyone assumed would be good enough. Oh, it was good enough and then some. This place was super tasty! And the waitstaff was uncommonly attractive! And the TVs played footage of Italian countrysides! Woo hoo! But that's not even the half of it. THE DESSERT. Y'all, it was to die for. We all ordered menus which included a meal, drink, and dessert, and it seems to me that restaurants usually only offer the worst of their desserts for such deals. Not so. I ordered Milano Bianca Nero Gelato expecting a tiny scoop of ok coconut ice cream with an even tinier scoop of so-so chocolate ice cream. I got a massive bowl with generous scoops of really good coconut and chocolate gelato, swimming in dark hot fudge. No lie, the fudge to gelato ratio was 1:1. I am quite a fan of hot fudge. I am quite a bigger fan of large portions of dark hot fudge. And if that wasn't enough, the uncommonly attractive waiter brought the birthday girl a saucer of whipped cream topped with a lit candle. You go, uncommonly attractive waiter.

So that was the good in Nancy. The good in Metz came while we waited for the night bus to take us back to campus from the train station. A trio of swarthy young gentlemen joined us at the stop and began taking out guitars and various percussion instruments. Then they started playing music. Beautiful music that made you wanna bop. So I bopped. And we clapped after each song. Then they catered to their audience and played some Oasis. Wonderwall, of course, because everyone knows all guitarists learn Wonderwall right after learning Smoke on the Water (the first to impress your bros, the second for da ladiezz). And then they played Don't Look Back in Anger - one of my faves - and serenaded us all the while until our bus came and we had to leave. I waved a little toodle-doo and the swarthy guitarist nearest me yelled "Ciao!" mid-lyric. So we were basically on a date. You go, swarthy guitarist that I once dated.