HHL Soccer

The business school was invited to a soccer tournament in Leipzig to compete against other European business schools. We left after a very intense M&A exam and a very long information overload week. The bus ride was very salubrious drawing much interest from cars overtaking us on the autobahn.
We arrived to a large Verbindung (something like a frat house in Germany. Very famous but unknown to me until then). The place was a cross between the Oxford and one's grandmothers house. Old photos, swords and other memorabilia adorned the walls while the wooden floor was sticky and scattered with broken glass. Everyone was jumping around thanks to a very enthusiastic DJ. All you can drink beers and Vodka Redbulls fueled the evening until the wee hours. Those felling peckish, like me (as always), were able to head out the back for a bratwurst three times longer than the breadroll was wide. Only in Germany.

We were staying at an old hostel where upon entering felt like being in a time machine. It was still in it's former East German butcher decor. Tiles walls, old lamps, old radio and pictures. The rooms upstairs were similar but nonetheless very comfortable.

The soccer left a little to be desired. We had trained, well properly, never. While competing were Italian and Eastern European teams who seems to have glued the soccer ball to their feet as they ran circles around us. We had two teams but both got knocked out in the early rounds. We were relegated to the fun cup but had to wait four hours in the freezing soccer hall until the game. So in the end, not a lot of soccer but a lot of waiting. Short sprints interrupting long cold hours of waiting made for pain ridden legs the next morning.

We had a great Mannheim contingent come along, many supporters as well as friends and family. It was a really nice excursion. After getting back on the Saturday afternoon, most people crashed out for a disco nap however I had itchy feet and went exploring around Leipzig. We had been given tram tickets as part of the package. All very Germanly organised...Leipzig is a very interesting city both in the context of current Germany and also the part it played in Eastern Germany. A lot of money has been spent on it in the last 20 years leaving it a nice place to wander around and explore. It has a very Berlin, east German grungy feel but similarly a vibrant student and arty aspect. I'm not sure i'd live there but I wouldn't complain if I was posted there for a period.

The evening festivities were in at the Lagerhof, a warehouse club in the outskirts of the city. On one side of the building was a freight handler and the other side a building supplies store! Free Jägermeister and cheap (and nasty) drinks all night made for a good evening. A few from our class fraternised but it was certainly no networking evening amongst business school students! The drunk russians, full to the brim of vodka, wanting to fight everyone added a rustic element to the evening. Leaving the bar at 5am with the slight tinge of morning was a great start to Sunday.

The organisers once again excelled. Brunch was provided in town and was very welcome by my body. A huge spread of delicious Mexican, German and continental breakfast washed down by coffee was seriously amazing. I ate enough to feed a small army. A little bit of time was needed afterwards to digest, luckily a fraction of sun was peeking through so we used the vitamin D input to help digest outside.

We bid our farewells and hit the road. This was clearly the same thing the rest of Germany was doing. Upon reaching the first major Autobahn we joined the traffic jam that would double the time needed to get home. Otherwise known as the big car park, the Autobahn was jammed in all directions. Delirium set in later with people dancing in the bus and seeing what items of rubbish they could throw into other peoples cars. Finally the buses arrived delivery a very weary group of soccer players and supporters back in Mannheim.

The organisers on our side, Fred in particular as well as the organisers of the soccer team did a superlative job and should be proud of a very successful weekend....