Munich, Germany

September 22-September 24

Haley, Steph and I went to Munich this weekend for Oktoberfest. We arrived around 7:30am on Friday by bus and were rushed as soon as we got to the hostel because we had to get to a beer walking tour that started at 9am. In my opinion, the beer walking tour was the best part of the whole weekend. The guide was hilarious and would call out random words during the tour that were indicators of something we had to do and the last person that did it had to finish off their pint of beer. We were walking around the city with a rolling wagon of beer kegs.

Afterwards we went to buy dirndls for Oktoberfest and then we went to the Hofbrauhaus house for lunch. The food was very different than in Italy. I couldn’t find anything decently healthy on the menu so I just got a salad with chicken but they legit put a drumstick chicken(bone and all) on top of my salad. It wasn’t the best thing I had ever tasted but I also got a liter of beer because…. well, you kind of have to and I wasn’t even able to finish it. For the night we just went to check out Oktoberfest to know what to expect for the next day and it was literally a huge carnival on steroids. It was not what I was expecting. There were so many people, food, rides, beer tents, games, etc. It was crazy. We just went back for the night to get some sleep though because our plan was to get in  line at 8am the next morning in order to get a spot in one of the beer tents because Oktoberfest opens at 9am and if you aren’t there in the morning then you can’t find a spot to sit in the tents and sometimes you can even get in the tents.

The next morning we did in fact get up early and get in line at 8am. Around 8:45am I was freezing my ass off in my little dirndl and starting to get fed up with standing in line but I held it together because we were so close. When we finally got in and rushed to the Hofbrauhaus tent because we had heard it was the best one for study abroad students, we still could not find any place to sit!!! Luckily a lady came over to us and took our order anyways. All three of us got a liter of beer and surprisingly I finished mine first but only because I was trying to prove to them that I actually can drink beer even though I don’t like it very much. We stayed in this tent for most of the day but I didn’t make it past two beers. I never drink beer so I could just not stomach that much of it. Honestly the whole weekend consisted of lots of beer and bad (meaning unhealthy, but pretty tasty) food, I’m pretty sure my entire body was bloated. Overall Oktoberfest was a decently good time but I think for me I am just not into carnivals and big crowds like that so I wouldn’t go back but I’m happy I got to experience it. On the other hand though, both my room mates had a blast so it really just depends on your personality.

The next day we woke up early to check out of our hostel and head to the concentration camp Dachau. I wondered off by myself once we were at the concentration camp because I just wanted to experience it alone and really take in everything I was seeing. It was really hard to believe that people were forced to live like that. The museum there was very informing but you could also see how the people slept, bathed, ate and more. The gas chamber was still there and it was an emotional experience for me. I did enjoy the visit though because it was eye opening and although most of the camp has been torn down, you can still get a good feel for what it was like. The concentration camp was our last stop for the weekend so after we all met up again we all packed ourselves on to the bus and made the trek back to Florence.  (I am going to include only a few pictures here due to the sensitive content.)