Sunday, May 18, 2008

Chemikerball

Few things are more glamorous than chemistry, and so when chemists get together to celebrate their achievements over the past year, to gently poke fun at one another, and to enjoy an evening of drinking and dancing, you can rest assured that the evening will be characterized by a level of sophistication and elegance rarely seen in other academic disciplines.

Right.

Okay, here's what I learned from the Chemikerball. Chemists are big nerds - regardless of nationality.

The festivities took place in one of the student halls a short bus ride from the city. Apparently in past years it has been held in a fancy hotel, but putting it in the Mensa meant that we got dinner and cheaper booze, so it seemed like a good idea to me. As I approached the hall I found myself thinking that the primary difference in the appearance of German and American chemists may be that the Germans have better posture. Which I guess is something, but many of the other factors were similar - the slightly out of date hairstyles and clothing, the eyeglasses, the skin that's so pale it looks nearly translucent, and the jokes that no one else gets. I'm not sure if I find this reassuring or disheartening. I'm also not sure whether I'm counting myself as a chemist - surely a biology ball would have been slightly less, um, sciency.

The evening began with a program that was sort of a spoof of "American Idol" or whatever the German version of it is. In this case it was called something like "Super Chemiker" (Germans say "super" a lot) I'd like to be able to mock the specific jokes here, but the program was obviously in German so I just laughed when other people laughed. It's really a shame, because few people like geeky science humor (is there any other kind?) as much as I do. Sigh. Anyway, I think it involved making fun of specific professors, and quizzing students with chemistry questions on stage. One of the students in our lab took part, and although I can't personally vouch for Martin's acting talent I can say that he got bigger laughs than almost anyone else. At some point people were called onto the stage to drink beer and jump rope. I really don't know what that was about, but I can imagine that it might have been funny. Georg won a teaching award - a giant bottle of champagne. He generously shared it with the group - it's probably hard for one person to drink 2 L.

The program was followed by a buffet dinner. I got the fish, some potatoes, and a steamed vegetable medley. It was quite similar to buffet dinners I've had in student halls in the US, so you can imagine. The best part was the pudding bar for dessert. It may just be my observation, but we seem to eat a lot of pudding here.

Next was a raffle, which turned out to be a good chance for me to practice my numbers. And it's a good thing I was paying attention, because I actually won two things (I bought 5 tickets - there were a lot of winners). First, both Carsten and I won 5 free passes to a gym. I also won a bottle of shower gel. Not all the prizes were equally exciting. Jenny and Matt (non-German speakers) won some sort of German novel about a dog and a wolf. That'll be useful.

After the raffle came the dancing, which I was actually pretty excited about. Despite my lack of rhythm I like to dance (especially after all the beer and champagne). Normally I feel a little self conscious, but in a room full of German chemists, I wasn't worried about looking cool. I didn't dance to the band - it was a bit more formal that I expected, and for whatever reason I don't know how to waltz. Later, though, the band finished and they played some sort of dance CD. Jenny and I were the only ones who really seemed to know all the songs. The advantage to being American, I guess. The level of dancing was probably on par with what I've seen at other science gatherings. If you've been to a science dance then you know. If you don't, I'm sure you can imagine.

The ball ended a little after midnight, and people went downtown to continue the fun. I'm tired of writing now, so I'll just include a two pieces of information here. First, "excuse me, are you Spanish" is a pretty good line, while "I think Hillary Clinton is a bitch" is not. And second, it isn't my fault if those guys get fired for sneaking Jenny and me up to the top of the Intershop tower. I didn't know it was against the rules.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Chemists are big nerds"

I am truly offended.

This ball sounds oddly similar to the GT Chemistry holiday party: "great" prizes with a (un)healthy mix of science humor. I only wish the GT party had involved 2L bottles of champagne...No such luck.

Reforming Soccer Mom said...

At the political science holiday party there was a LOT of singing, including parody's of Gilbert and Sullivan songs changed to reflect current candidates. And NO ALCOHOL.

Anonymous said...

ooooooooooohhh...shower gel, you lucky, lucky bitch

SP

anaeromyxo said...

What can you expect from a ride on a short bus? Or maybe you meant that the ride was short...

anaeromyxo said...

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1321221/chemistry_can_be_fun/

anaeromyxo said...

oops:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1321221/
chemistry_can_be_fun/

biophd said...

I didn't mean you, Amy! You're really, um, cool. But apparently, none of us can compare with Katy's political science part. Yikes!

Oh the best thing about the shower gel is that it's called "Wellness Douche." It means something different here...

And finally, I feel bad for Ne in that video. She's destined to be alone.

anaeromyxo said...

hgkphngt(one of those throat-clearing /snorting-style laughs). Wellness douche. hgkphngt