Oktoberfest!

  Oktoberfest, one of Germany's biggest events. 6 million people from all over the world flood Munich for this 4 week festival. This long celebrated wedding anniversary includes beer tents, liters of beer, rides, bratwursts, songs, dirndls, lederhosen, live folk music, and dancing.It was such an experience and an awesome place to be. Hopefully my description will do it justice.
   The Tuesday before we were supposed to leave for Oktoberfest, some American friends and I decide to check out Berlin Brauhause (brewery) to get a taste of southern German culture. We get the famous 1 Liter beer (eine Maß ) and eat Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and bread. (my friends had wursts). Realizing how big 1 liter of beer was, I became more excited (and even a little overwhelmed) to go to Oktoberfest.

Click here for popular Oktoberfest song

   Thursday (the day before departure) we had an "Oktoberfest Day" in German class. Our teacher knew many of use were going this weekend, so she introduced us to songs, foods, and Bavarian dialect. The southern German accent is difficult to pronounce and understand. Then, she wanted to show the class the different parts of the dirndl (the Bavarian dress). She asks me to wear hers to show to the class. The dirndl is a dress with a blouse underneath, and is usually worn with an apron. We go into the bathroom to change, but of course my boobs are bigger than hers and they don't fit in the dirndl. We could not zip up the dirndl all the way, so just the blouse was exposed....the bitch still made me go in front of the class. When I walked in one of my good friends yells, "Oh my goodness, fuck yes for Oktoberfest!" Everyone mentioned how red I was. (Y'all would be embarrassed if you had to display a dress that didn't fit your boobs too). I also learned that the white beer at Oktoberfest has an alcohol content from 7-13% depending on the beer. umm....HOLY SHIT.

   Friday, Paz and I get a ride down to Munich. There is a big carpooling system in Europe; in Germany it's called Mitfahrgelegenheit. Basically you just see when someone is going somewhere and you drive along with them and pay gas money. It's cheaper and faster than taking the train or bus. Plus you get to meet people.

We caught a ride with 2 women who didn't know English very well, so Paz and I got to practice our German. They were very nice AND she drove fast on the Autobahn. She had a BMW and I peeked at the speedometer a few times: up to 250 km/h! The drive to Munich was beautiful. The countryside is so green.

There were wind turbines galore.The scenary was mainly rolling hills, but every now and then there would be a village nestled amongst the hills. We made it to Munich in 5 hours. It was surreal to have driven across most of the country (North to south) within 5 hours.

Paz with a Mass and her cookie!

When arriving into Munich the first 2 things I see are the football stadium and the BMW headquarter building. When we were dropped off by our driver we met with our couch surfer. Couchsurfing is an organization that allows travelers to meet locals and stay at their place. You meet them online and if they have their "couch" open for the time that you will be in town, they let you stay at their place. Yes I have heard of some dangerous stories and many back at home will think this is "sketch" but I am not traveling alone. Plus they have references on the website. The hosts are just as excited to meet travelers as travelers are to meet locals. Michael, the Munich local that hosted us for the weekend, was incredibly nice. He gave us a booklet of Oktoberfest postcards and the traditional Oktoberfest gingerbread cookie that all the woman wear.

 Friday night Michael showed us the down town area of Munich. Munich is much smaller than Berlin. The city is cleaner, much more religious, quieter, richer, but not as historically significant as Berlin. Michael takes us to a vegan restaurant. On our way there, we walk down some quiet, dark, very narrow cobble-stone street. The atmosphere almost reminded me of pictures I have seen of Italy. We eat a tofu dinner, which was actually amazing. Tofu is not prominent in Berlin and I had not realized how much I missed it. During dinner we of course talk politics. I have heard that southern Germany was much more conservative. From talking to Michael, that's the feeling I got as well. He complained about the Italians and Turkish immigrants. The topic of Turkey joining the EU got brought up, and I almost got in a heated debate with him. Nonetheless, it was interesting seeing a different point of view.  After dinner Michael shows us more of the down town plaza. Munich has the largest McDonalds in Europe. It's three stories tall and provides the menu in 15 languages. We go to a popular Irish pub (good practice for our trip to Ireland in a week!) and talked with Michael (in Deutsch of course) to show off our German speaking skills.

   The next morning Michael prepares us a wonderful breakfast and we head to the festival. We arrive rather early, 9:30. The outside area was empty, but we soon found out that people were already there, just in the tents. There are 8 tents at Oktoberfest, each sponsered by a different Brewer. So if you wanted Augustiner beer, you had to go to that specific tent to get that beer. All of the tens were full...at 930 am. Each tent has an outdoor sitting area (or bier garten). We sit at one table and order our first

Our couch surfer and us in costume

Maß. Michael was having a few of his friends meet with us. So we drank our beer and waited. This weekend was the big Italian weekend. Everyone told me not to go on Italian weekend because they flirt too much. But, there were some Italians at our table so we strike conversation. After an hour, Paz and I were yantzy. Michael's friends still hadn't shown up, plus my phone was being blown up by our American friends who were in a tent and wanted us to come meet them. Paz and I were determined to get in a tent, so we decided to leave the beer garden and try to get in. Michael stayed behind with his friends that finally showed up. 
We go to the next tent over, the Spaten, and are not at all intimidated by the line. We were fairly tipsy after 1 liter, so it made the wait all the more interesting.

                                          
We talk to some really nice German girls in line. Then later introduced ourselves to 2 German guys that were in front of us who also came from Berlin. We wait for about an hour then the bouncer came over and asked for 4 people. Paz, me, and the 2 German guys all look at one another then shout "VIER HIER!" (4 here). We didn't know that this was JUST to get inside the garden! We waited an hour and were still not in the tent. But that didn't stop us from having fun. We sit down at an outside table and talk to the other Germans who were already there. People from tables around us would spontaneously get on their table and start chugging their liters. Everyone around would chant and scream. Also if a bartender caught you sitting down without a liter, they would kick you out...so you had to keep drinking if you wanted to stay in the beer garden/tent. 2 liters of beer later, I found out I really needed to pee. As soon as I stood up, I realized I was plastered. 3 liters total (30 Euros later) had really hit me. As my friends know, a drunken Christina with a camera is bad news. On our way to the bathroom and inside, I capture some gems.  

The stall we were in was also a broom closet

tee hee

                                                                                       

Don't ask

The Berliners

At least I wasn't as drunk as these people!

 We see some of the other Americans in our program and talk for a bit. I try to get one of their numbers; I pull out my phone and see that it's dead. Next thing I knew, Paz was nowhere to be found. One of the other Fubi's says "Oh ya, she had to go puke, but I have her phone. I don't know which way she went and she left awhile ago." I immediately panicked.  Paz was alone with no phone. Was she ok? My phone was dead. She didn't have Michael's phone number. How were we going to find him to get to his place later tonight?? I have never sobered up so quick before. Some Americans and I go back to the table we were sitting at earlier and ask the Germans we were talking too. They had not seen her for an hour. We go back to the bathroom line. In the midst of looking, I lost the other Americans and now I was alone. Fuck. I stumbled back to the original table and finally see Paz with the Fubi that had her phone. The poor thing had thrown up twice and was eating a pretzel. While Paz was recovering, I take a moment to relax. There were some new Germans at the table now, and we all introduced ourselves. Sebastian, Lukas, and Roman. All three were charming, friendly, and cute ;) It is now about 6pm. Let me remind you that we have been here since 930 am. Little did we know that meeting these 3 guys was just the beginning of our night.

To be continued!!