Behind closed doors...

There seems to be a disproportionately high number of sensibly-dressed, well-groomed chaps wandering round the streets of Bonn's Südstadt district. Ever since I got here, I have been wondering what it's all about. I haven't seen men dress like this since "Beverly Hills 90210" went off air.

It seems that many of them are residents of the borough's frat houses. In my local area, they are mainly Catholic set-ups for the male university students of Bonn. Some of these fraternities are schlagende, that means that they like to do a spot of fencing. Often people get injured pretty badly on the face during the Mensur bouts, the injury is called a smite. These injuries are traditionally seen as a badge of honour. Not all colleges are like this - increasingly they are in the minority.

The fraternities have been a bit of a target for bad press over the years. Some are accused of having over-zealous nationalistic leanings, others of being misogynistic (anti-female). It's widely thought that members receive favourable treatment in industry and academic circles, after they leave university. Vandalism to the colleges occurs every now and then.

The fraternities say that their traditions teach character - and that they also make positive contributions to the local community. I think they could make a really strong contribution to the community by discontinuing their wearing of boat shoes. Where have you guys been for the last 15 years!?!?!?!

Bonner Republik

So, we're bäck - this time from Bonn.

After receiving plenty of (occasionally threatening) fan-post asking us to keep Euroblog going, I've summoned up the courage to write my first entry. The new location will make things a bit challenging at first. The thing is: the team here at Euroblog always prided itself on giving you "the word on the street". We're not really sure we've found the word on the street here in Bonn yet. But we're trying.

In my first few weeks here I've noticed a lot of people wearing boat shoes and sports jackets, been a bit disappointed in the lack of decent graffiti and have been fascinated by the huge number of people jogging. I've also been going to work a lot. It's been like moving life forward 25 years. Except no-one has a flying car.

I think the interesting thing about Bonn is it's strained link to the past - and that will probably be a bit of a theme for the blog-o. You can sense that people here are STILL cheesed off about giving up the capital to Berlin in 1990. Day by day their old West German capital is disappearing.

Take the Bonner Republik for instance. This restaurant, situated on Adenauer Allee, used to be a real haunt for politicians and hot-shot journos in the old days. Now, the owner is selling his historic inventory and changing the name and concept of the location. The old ministry signs hanging on the wall are now for sale, the embassy gifts are going for a steal. Just drop by and name your price.

A little piece of history making way for dark-wood panelling, flat screen TVs and cut-price cocktails? Let's hope not.