Oktoberfest. How can I put into words my experience at this wonderful festival? Well I guess I'll begin with the fact that I am sitting here, alive, writing about it...so there's one thing, right?
But let's back up a little bit and start at the beginning. I arrived in Munich last Friday afternoon and was meeting 3 of my friends who are studying in London, France, and Sweden at the hotel. It was quite the exciting reunion in itself...and adding the upcoming festivities, people in the lobby might have thought we were a bit crazy. We regrouped and headed to the fairgrounds. Since it was the afternoon, we couldn't find a table inside any of the tents but we joined some lovely German ladies at their table outside of the Paulaner tent. We learned some very important words from them: Prost - cheers, hendle - chicken, and beer - beer. We spent the afternoon there and explored the grounds a bit, taking in the scene and preparing ourselves for the full day on Saturday.
In order to get a table inside the tents (you have to be sitting at a table in order to get served) we woke up at 6am on Saturday so we could get to the tents by 7 to stand in line. There were probably about 70 Santa Clara kids who were all at Oktoberfest last weekend and everyone was planning on spending the day in the Hofbrau tent - the most international and lively tent at Oktoberfest. They let us into the tent around 8:20 with pretzels (bigger than your face) and first beers ( in a stein that is as big and weighs as much as a small baby) at 9 and first hendles (half of a chicken...yes half of a full chicken) at 10. The German's don't mess around with their traditions haha.
But let's back up a little bit and start at the beginning. I arrived in Munich last Friday afternoon and was meeting 3 of my friends who are studying in London, France, and Sweden at the hotel. It was quite the exciting reunion in itself...and adding the upcoming festivities, people in the lobby might have thought we were a bit crazy. We regrouped and headed to the fairgrounds. Since it was the afternoon, we couldn't find a table inside any of the tents but we joined some lovely German ladies at their table outside of the Paulaner tent. We learned some very important words from them: Prost - cheers, hendle - chicken, and beer - beer. We spent the afternoon there and explored the grounds a bit, taking in the scene and preparing ourselves for the full day on Saturday.
(Lucy, Cynthia, Andrew and myself at the Paulaner tent)
In order to get a table inside the tents (you have to be sitting at a table in order to get served) we woke up at 6am on Saturday so we could get to the tents by 7 to stand in line. There were probably about 70 Santa Clara kids who were all at Oktoberfest last weekend and everyone was planning on spending the day in the Hofbrau tent - the most international and lively tent at Oktoberfest. They let us into the tent around 8:20 with pretzels (bigger than your face) and first beers ( in a stein that is as big and weighs as much as a small baby) at 9 and first hendles (half of a chicken...yes half of a full chicken) at 10. The German's don't mess around with their traditions haha.
(I guess they serve beer at Oktoberfest...who knew?)
Anyways we separated from the Santa Clara group which I was happy about because most of the fun of Oktoberfest is meeting people from all around the world. We ended up sitting with some great German, Irish and Austrialian people. By chance, the Aussies are coming to Barcelona tonight for a week and so I´m going to show them around the city and two of the Irishmen went to Clongowe´s Wood College - a boarding school my dad´s cousin is a Jesuit at and my brother attended for a semester; such a small world! Anyways we walked through the tent as the day went on, I ran into a few people from home and high school - once again, such a small world. But we were showered and in bed by 11 on Saturday night - the early bird catches the beer, I mean worm, right? haha
(TOMS at Oktoberfest)
(Me with some lovely Germans in lederhosen)
Sunday started the same as Saturday, early to the tents to spend the day in Spaten - one of the most traditional tents at Oktoberfest. This means that we were just a few of the only people who were not in lederhosen or German dresses...which was great! We enjoyed a few hours in there and then proceeded to the ferris wheel and then the beautiful city of Munich. Unfortunately my camera died so I don´t have any pictures from Sunday but we were able to see some great historical sites of the city - it is definitely a place I would want to go back to and see more of. But I do have this...
(Welcome to Oktoberfest)
All in all, the weekend was a huge success. Reunited with friends, met some really great people, saw some pretty places, and drank some delicious beer. I´m not sure if I have it in me to do Oktoberfest: Round 2 next year but I am so glad I was able to go and those will be memories I will cherish.
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