Happy Hour

I went to happy hour on Friday with my classmates. After 8 months of making fun of everyone and whining about code, I've finally accepted that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (especially since most of them are actually pretty normal)

Here's what I learned:

1. Most of the class thought I was Canadian (not sure how to take this)

2. Most of the class wants to leave NZ at some stage and work in the US, although there was concern over how "loud and competitive" Americans are (I kept quiet on this one)

3. Two of my classmates who drive to school every day actually live minutes from my house and could've carpooled me in all this time (I wanted to CRY when I learned that)

4. One girl turns 21 in a few weeks and is planning to celebrate by drinking an entire bottle of Jaegermeister (vile)

5. At least half the class has no interest in hardcore programming and wants to go into web design (great - more competition)

6. One kid has a biracial American fiancé in Florida who is looking for a fellowship in NYC. He's been to the US a few times and laughed that the bars are only open until 2am or 4am. Then he expressed his shock at how strong the drinks are in the US. I responded, "I know - it's great, right??" but he disagreed. I didn't really have much to say to him after that.

7. I worked from home most of last week, but urged my classmates to make sure to tell EVERYONE we were going out for drinks. Well, they told everyone except the German. He only found out about it by walking past the bar and seeing us all sitting there. Of course, as soon as a seat opened up next to me he moved chairs and confronted me: "Did you know about this beforehand? No one told me? When did you hear about it?" I felt badly for him because it's never fun to be left out of something, but at the same time I was angry that he continues to look to me to keep him in the loop on all class activity. I told him the truth: "I wasn't in class all week so I don't know who knew and who didn't."

8. Everyone had a really good time and we all agreed to do it again soon.