The sun was already well along its downward arc as we sped along the banks of the River Weser, passing the round, white shapes of the naked Germans amid the grass. It was Bremen, so there was no need to chain our bicycles; we just parked them next to a bench and shed our over-clothing. In the spirit of adventure in foreign lands, Gina shed her top and leaped quickly into the murky, neck-deep water. Jeff and I had been planning this trip for a while- we wanted to swim out to the little island in the middle of the Weser, perhaps to found a new island kingdom. The water had more duck waste in it than we were expecting, and the sharp corners of the invasive zebra mussels cut into our feet near the banks. We donned our flip-flops for protection and set out for the island, ducks swimming past us curiously. The river became deep and cold, but still we paddled on, awkward in our protective footgear.

We reached the island and Jeff and I ran ashore. Gina was hesitant. She hadn't realized that we were going to explore the island... she'd expected to have her toplessness confined to the safety of the water. But not one to miss out on an adventure and too far to swim back, she wrapped her thin brown arms about herself and scurried after us. She looked like a wild thing, loping about with her arms protectively around her body and her leopard-print swim-suit bottoms. The island was hardly an island at all, as the water permeated all of the soil and pooled at the roots of the trees. The underbrush was impenetrable in most places and the sun struggled to shine through the brambled canopy. Not exactly the best place to establish a new kingdom, especially considering the amount of bird excrement lying about. Plus, Gina was starting to shiver.

So alas, we returned to the river, startling the wildfowl. We swam about for a bit longer and then returned to shore, somewhat loathe to return our scummy bodies to our clean, dry clothes. But for Gina, who hurried back into her swimming suit top, we stayed as we were. We rode quite unabashedly back into town in the golden light of afternoon in our swimming gear with our towels around our necks, a picture of summer.

***

Turns out that Jeff is one of the ~8 new grad students coming next year to our department! What are the odds?

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