4th of July

I have been away from home numerous times on the 4th of July, but in the past I have usually at least been in the USA. This year, not so much. To honor our country that we are currently not inhabiting, we decided a cook-out was indeed the best option. Well, ok really it was one of our only options because as the 4th was on a Sunday, there isn't much else open. We started throwing the idea of getting the remaining Americans together and making traditional American food. One major problem arose though: we needed a grill to celebrate the 4th of July somewhat properly. Thankfully our landlords had a gas grill, so we decided to have everyone (3 other people) over for burgers and hot dogs...I mean brats...I mean sausages that somewhat resemble brats... that we put in hot dog buns. Right.
To compliment these burgers and brats I made potato salad and we had a big ole bowl of the freshest fruits from this summer. Thankfully one thing the French don't lack is fresh fruits and produce. We even had one of the girls coming over make brownies because she has a real-life and functioning oven. Such novelty.
In general it was a great day. It was sunny, the beer was semi-cold (which is pretty normal here anyway), the burgers and brats...er, sausages...were yummy and the brownies were amazing, mostly because I hadn't eaten one in about 7 months. We didn't have any fireworks, but we're expecting some on the 14th because that is when the French celebrate Bastille Day, commemorating the storming of the prison and seen as the symbol of the uprising of the French leading to the French Revolution and eventually their freedom from Louis XVI.
- Interesting note, I jokingly asked one of the French students on Sunday what he was doing to celebrate American independence day. He replied that he wasn't quite sure because he didn't know it was American Independence Day. I gave him a hard time because I knew when the French celebrate their nation. Sure, you can say I know that because I live in France, but he lived in the States....soooo...but, truth be told, I couldn't tell you when Germans celebrate their independence (have they ever had to declare it? ah jeez, really I did take AP European History at one point in my life) or when other major countries have their festivals, so I guess he's off the hook.
UPDATE: I wikipediaed German Independence day and they don't have one because they were never under colonial rule, but they do have unity day on Oct 3 which celebrates the reunification of Germany on the same date in 1990. Uh huh, I knew that.