From where, doing what?

There is always a feeling of apprehension, maybe a little unease, when meeting new roommates. The thoughts of how well you will coexist always occupy most the space in your mind the first few minutes, or maybe even hours, that you are with them. It was such the case today as I met Toby and Phillip. After a few minutes, I decided that they weren't just alright, but they were pretty cool. As is the case with the majority of the educated world, they speak English but, being the minority by 2/3, I figure some German would come in handy.

Being the most "local" of the 3 of us, I was appointed by majority vote as the guide for the night and we went out in search of some drinks. Now, since I am not a drinker, my expertise on the good spots were vastly limited, so I took them to this spot in Old Town that's like an outdoor cafe with tables out in one of the big town squares. I've always wanted to go there and just sit and chill but never had a reason to.

We had a good, little chill. My 2 new freunds (ah, see, I'm learning already) commented on the similarities between the Latvian beer and their home brews. I commented how the Coke Zero the waitress brought me tasted like crap and how come I got that instead of the normal Coke I asked for.

Toby, a civil engineering student from Hamburg, is interning with a German firm based in Riga. Phillip, from Frankfurt, is a law student interning at the German embassy. I am an international relations student from Kaysville, Ut interning at an NGO (yes, the ambiguities that constitute my life make for difficult conversation with OR without language barriers).