Week 5: Prost to Oktoberfest!

9/23/19 – Monday night I got gelato with my roommates at Grom (which is across the street, very dangerous). I got my favorite flavor, stracciatella, which is basically cream with chocolate chips. After that, Hannah and I were looking at Airbnb’s in Paris for next weekend. We found one in a prime location that looked super boujee that we could actually afford (red flag #1). I emailed the person to get some more information. We eventually figured out it was a scam, when she told us there was a $500 security deposit. I asked her if we could book directly through the Airbnb website, and she never responded. On top of that, she deleted the entire listing altogether. Just goes to show, never book outside of a reputable website kids. Also goes to show if it looks too good to be true, it probably is (sadly).

9/24/19 – Tuesday I focused on homework. After my class, I stopped by a panini place called I Fratellini that I’ve wanted to try. Apparently it started in 1875, so it goes way back. It’s the cutest little walk up place with like 100 different wines behind the counter. I got the Tuscan salami with fennel and cream cheese. It was so tasty. I will definitely be back, since they had like 45 different paninis to try. I’m worried it will become a habit because it’s right on my walk home from class (yikes, but oh well). After that, Hannah and I booked two more trips, since the Bus2alps tour group was having a sale. We got one trip that stops in Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg, and another trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. They should be really fun, but aren’t until November. After that, Hannah and I headed to a private sale event at Brandy Melville. We went early, so luckily we were the first few in line, but there ended up being about 300 people in line. It wasn’t even that good of a sale, either. I got some cute basic tanks for 10 euro, and a cute sweatshirt that says Firenze on it (so I guess it was worth it).

9/25/19 – Nothing too exciting happened on Wednesday. I bought some groceries and went to class.

9/26/19 – Thursday was the day I headed to Oktoberfest. I tagged along with Hannah and a friend she had made the plans with from high school. I took bus transpiration with bus2alps and we left around 11pm that night to arrive at 8am in Munich, Germany. I’m camping for Oktoberfest, so hopefully it’s not the worst thing ever. Wish me luck!

9/27/19 – Friday, I was on the bus in the morning, still awake because I can’t sleep on buses of course (I think I slept 2 hours). While we were driving there, Hannah got word from some girls her friends knew that were already at the campsite. Basically they said the campsite was very sketchy, and they decided to get a hotel. We decided to check it out anyway, in case it was okay. Plus, we already paid for it. The reviews were a mixed bag and some were quite bad, so I was a bit skeptical. We got there and it was quite a bit nicer than I was expecting (but the expectations were just about as low as they could be). We had to wait in line over 2 hours to check in, which was ridiculous. Finally we got to our tents (and this was when I started to have a slight meltdown). The tents were for two people but were only about 4 feet wide and not long enough to lay fully flat in. I found 2 spiders in my tent, which I was not about. I haven’t been camping in a tent since I was about 6, so it was a bit out of my comfort zone. Also, each tent was only about an inch away from another. Then we went to charge our phone, since they were almost dead. When we got there, though, they made us pay to charge them (dumb). We went to get some dinner from the campsite, and surprisingly it wasn’t terrible. While we were eating we met some kids from New Zealand and Australia. We decided we wanted to head over to Oktoberfest right away, since we weren’t doing much else. We had lost Hannah’s friend already, since she knew what seemed like 40 other people from school already. So we ended up going with the New Zealander we met at dinner. We changed into our dirndls (the traditional female, German outfit) and headed out. We took the train and just followed the sea of lederhosen and dirndls to the festival grounds. It was 10 times bigger than I was expecting. It’s was like a German Disney world, but with more beer. There were more carnivals rides than I have ever seen in my life. First thing I scouted out was the Wiener schnitzel (my fav). Hannah and Aidan had never had one, so I introduced it to them, and they both really liked it. Next we rode the extra tall swing ride, which gave us an amazing view over the festival. After that we decided we should probably try to get in a beer tent, since that’s what Oktoberfest is known for. We didn’t know which one, and had only heard of Hofbrauhaus because they are in the USA, so we picked a random one. We ended up at the Paulaner Munchen tent, after we waited for about 30 minutes to get in (which was one of the shorter waits). Apparently it is a more local tent with few tourists, which was kind of nice to get a true Oktoberfest experience. We walked around the entire tent and found a table to join. Across from us were two couples from Munich. We danced on the benches and sang to German and American songs. It was funny because they played songs like “Sweet Home Alabama”. A waiter came around with some beers and we each got one. It was about 11 euros for a stein (equivalent to about 4 strong American beers apparently). The waitresses and waiters were impressive, carrying between 8 and 20 steins at a time. And there I was using two hands to hold mine because it was so heavy. I can honestly say, German beer is best. I am definitely not a beer person in America (like I can barely drink it without making a face), but the German beer I could drink with minimal pain! (yes, I said pain. Safe to say I will never be a beer person) On our way out, we met a group of German students. It was cool getting to talk to them. It reminded me of when the German exchange students were at my school, and when I went to study there back in high school. They told us that everyone goes to “wisenzelts” or something like that, which are basically after parties to Oktoberfest. We thought we would check it out (also I was just avoiding going back to the tent, honestly). They took us there, but on the way it started raining, so we were soaked. We stayed at the club for a little and headed home. I was not excited to go back and sleep in a tent in the rain. Luckily, our tent was nice and dry, just a little cold. I didn’t get much sleep in reality, though. Like I said, I just cannot sleep in tents. I was super nervous the entire night it would start pouring inside, or there would be a bug, or someone would try to come in our tent thinking it was theirs. None of those things happened, thankfully, but I only got about 3 hours of sleep I think (ugh).

9/28/19 – On Saturday we got up around 10am and decided to spend the day downtown to see Munich. We saw the Rathaus-Glockenspiel play at noon, since it is famous in Munich. After we walked around and looked for a bakery to get a croissant and cappuccino (and phone chargers). I swear German croissants are the best. It’s like they soak them in butter or something. After that we looked in a couple of shops and found a place with classic German cuisine to eat at. It was called Hackerhaus. I got an Oktoberfest special that was pork with a mustard coating, sauce and spätzle (amazing). Hannah liked her food so much she said it was the best thing she has eaten in Europe so far. After lunch, we decided to go to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, since Hannah hadn’t ever been to one. I was at the Dachau memorial about 5 years ago when I was doing an exchange program in Germany in high school, like I mentioned earlier. It’s a powerful memorial with so much history in the museum. I learned many new things about not only Dachau camp, but the war and holocaust in general. I’m always interested in research on WWII and keep continuing to learn new things with each museum or article I see. Once we left there, we went back to change into our dirndls again and head to Oktoberfest. The dirndls were truthfully one of the best parts of Oktoberfest. It was so fun and cute, plus everyone was wearing them. Also they were honestly comfortable and simple, compared to what I would normally wear to a bar. We tried to get into a different tent this night, but the lines were so long everywhere. We decided to go back to the same tent, since it is more local and the lines are shorter. Eventually we got in and had fun just like the night before. After, we wanted to ride some rides. We went on the giant ferris wheel, and got a great view of Oktoberfest. We also went on an indoor roller coaster, which was so fun, and a giant coaster. It had 5 loops and was the size of something at 6 flags. It’s a good thing I only had one beer stein. Super fun, though! The rides wore us out, so we headed back to the campsite to go to bed.

9/29/19 – Sunday was our final day in Munich. We headed to the downtown area for breakfast. Our original plan was to do some shopping, but everything was closed because it was Sunday. We found one of the only breakfast places open, Café Nymphenburg, and got a ham and cheese sandwich, a cappuccino, and of course, a croissant. This was literally the BEST croissant I have had the entire time I have been here in Europe. So buttery and flakey, oh my gosh. When we finished breakfast, Hannah had to head back on her train, and I had to get on my bus a little later. It was about a 9 hour drive back. At first I dozed off, but woke up while we were driving through the Austrian Alps. Austria is so beautiful, I cannot wait for my trip there this fall. I remember it being one of the most beautiful countries when I was there in high school, so stayed tuned for more on that in November. Finally I got back to Florence at 11:30 and went straight to bed for some much needed sleep (after surviving off of about 10 hours total for 3 days). Overall, Germany and Oktoberfest were better than I ever expected, and I literally want to go back again this weekend. Just maybe rent an Airbnb for myself this time.