Friends no matter what continent

This post was inspired by watching the series finale of Friends.

I have been in Austria since September 2005 and when I first got here I knew no one. I had never even been to Austria before and knew absolutely nothing about the country! The first night I got here I was outside on the back terrace and I heard someone speaking English from his/her window and waited till the end so I could yell up and speak in English. Unfortunately, she talked for a reallllly long time and I eventually went in.

I met Máire [pronounced More-uh] (Ireland/Éire) at a party on the forth floor. I walked in and I heard English so we started chatting but that was about it. At a second party we encountered each other again and I so rudely asked her if I could borrow her apartment because I really had to #1...She obliged. From then on we became really good friends.

Máire did not want her roommate to arrive. She had the aparment to herself and she wanted it that way! Fortunately, Laura (Belgium/Belgique) arrived and she was an amazing girl and she and Máire got along great!

The next step was when I was in the lobby with Máire and she was telling me about this English guy that she thought might be gay. Well hello! Show him to me! So we walked up to him and started talking but soon found out he was actually straight. Cool...whatever. His name is Divesh (nickname Dee) and we became friends.

Nicolas (also Belgian) came into the picture when Laura met him and they spoke in French. One evening Laura and I were walking in the back and we saw him. At first I thought he was French and kept on walking but then found out he was Belgian so we invited him to a party. I thought he was gay too...he was just tooooo well dressed to be hetero. Well at the party that we invited him to he wore white socks with black pants. Instant sign that he is straight.



Some how we all just hung out all the time and became great great friends, especially Máire and I. I brought this game from the U.S. called Rook. It is a card game somewhat similar to Spades or the like. Well eventually they all picked up the rules and we would play it every day almost. It was the greatest fun ever. Nicolas hated playing with me because I was pretty competitive but I realised that and tried to turn it down a thousand.

Dee is an English guy with Indian roots so he could do a pretty good fro and at the end of the week we would always have Fro Friday. Fluff it up and get drunk. Máire drinks Radler, Nicolas, Dee and I would drink vodka, and Laura was pretty much the sober one, although not always. I remember one evening when she was drunk and dancing around my kitchen with the radio, thus we nicknamed her DJ Laura.



So a group of one Irishwoman, one Englishman, one American, and two French speaking Belgians. We paid out each other a lot for accents but it was all out of love. This was the greatest time that I have spent in Vienna.

Oh I forgot to mention the times that I took them all to gay clubs. I thought the boys might be reserved but hell....they absolutely LOVED it. Whenever Michael Jackson came on you had to get out of the way so Dee could show his stuff and when Whitney Houston was played you could count on Nicolas to shout along with the lyrics. One evening when I was in Niederösterreich (the mountains) they all went to a gay club without the token gay! How unfair!



We were all so uninhibited because we were together. Often times we would go to a party early and there would be very few people there and we wanted to dance. So us five retards would get out there and start shaking our bonbons even though no one else was. We had several routine dances memorised: The Billa (grocery store) so one person would be the cashier and call out "Grüß Gott" (hello) and then slide all the items and then yell "Zettel" (receipt) and everyone would go shopping....Prater dance is next. We lived at Praterstern which is the red light district and tons of drunk bums...so the dance basically consisted of pretending to guzzle down beers and be drunk. The Karlsplatz! (Charles Square) is where all the druggies are so the dance was us pretending to shoot up and be high.

The Funny Bunny Game! It's a game where you put your hands on your head and make like you have bunny ears and then throw them to someone else who must be paying attention. Again I reiterate that we were completely retarded in public, but that is the point!

There is a picture of me and Máire kissing on the U-bahn (métro/subway)...her boyfriend was not particularly happy about that photo, and what is even worse is that the day that he came to Vienna she was busy so I was obliged to go pick him up at the airport. We had a "talk" on the train back to town. I assured him that I only like penis and that it was just for fun. He turned out to be a dick anyway so as a group we dislike him.



Nicolas and I were the last ones to leave Vienna. In that last month we really solidified our friendship, maybe through beers or just hanging out, who knows :) All I have to say is that when he left I bawled my eyes out and still miss him terribly.

Having straight males friends is especially important to me because I am gay and as a stigma it is not often that I have them. So when they accept me for who I am, and are truly my friends I cherish them. These 4 people in Vienna have really embraced me and I love them so much. It is unfortunate that now we will all be in our respective countries, yet on the other hand I have such great memories to relive in my head and to retell.

I just want to thank Máire, Dee, Laura, and Nicolas for making my stay in Vienna one of the best times in my entire life and I will never forget you no matter what! When I have money I will definitely see you again in the future. I better be invited to your marriages, anniversaries, christenings, and any other major events!

I love you and wish you all the best!
Je vous aime et vous souhaite le bonheur!