Happy Independence Day!

I wish all my American friends and readers a happy Independence Day. I so envy you...

But I'm going to have a nice 4th of July with my remaining German and American friends here in Germany as well. We're gonna have BBQ together (of course), and I'm sure we'll have a blast.

It's funny, I've never celebrated on the German National Day ("Tag der Deutschen Einheit", 3rd of October), but Independence Day is always an important day for me.
Oh, wait, that's not completely true. When I was younger the German National Day was on 17th of June, and I remember we had BBQ each year with many friends of my parents who also had kids in my age. And we played at a creek nearby. That was fun.

But when the Federal Republic of Germany absorbed the German Democratic Republik in 1989 they changed it to a date where it's actually too cold to have BBQ. So there is not really a traditional thing to do on 3rd of October.

Oh, that's not true either. In the last couple years I spent that day the same way: learning for exams with a friend while others had a day off.