Munich, Deutschland & Oktoberfest

Guten Tag!

WOW. What crazy times I've had in Munich, Germany.

To begin the adventure, I had to wake up in my appartement here in Milan at 5:00 am, catch the 6:00 am bus, ride to Cadorna Station where I rode the Malpensa Express train to the Malpensa airport (whcih takes 40 minutes) then got on my plane, changed planes in Zurich, Switzerland, then arrived in Munich where I took the S Bauh 8 to Ostbanhof Station, got lost and couldn't find my roommates, and then just took a taxi to the address of the appartment we were crashing at, found the roommates, then ate some darn good German food. Crazy. My life here is mostly all about transportation it seems.

So to backtrack a bit, the scene from my airplane window seat going into Zurich was incredible. I took a Swiss International flight there (which was awesome by the way because they give you a big bar of Swiss chocolate on every flight). The plane flew surprisingly low and it was completely clear so I had a perfect view of the captivating Italian and Swiss Alps! I've never in my life seen such a majestic sight! I really really want to take a trip to Switzerland now and spend some time there--and the city of Zurich looks so peaceful and green with beautiful countryside. I miss being around mountains so much since being at Tall Timber last summer--and the Alps look like killer mountains, blowing away the Cascades! It's amazing!

The city of Munich also surprised me. I didn't realize how green and lush Germany was. Munich almost felt like a European version of Seattle--the weather was very similar and also, it's an incredibly environmentally conscious community with biofriendly grochery stores and all. There was a mix of modern, sleek buildings, usually made of glass, and the beautiful old architecture of course. They refer to Munich as the "village of one million people" meaning that even though the city is large, it's a close-knit community in many ways. The people I met in Germany were incredibly friendly and it's a very English-friendly place. Some Germans explained to me that all Germans have to have a lot of english education and that they think it's very important (they also told me that they look town on other countries that don't emphasize english, such as the French who they told me tend to be isolationists).

The Munich metro system consists of the S Baun and the U Baun and they are fantastic! Once you get a hang of the German names of stops and stuff it's quite simple to use and it's very clean to ride. By the end of my five days there I was an expert.

The first day in Munich after meeting up with my roommates, we ate some delicious German cuisine at this restaurant owned by this really sweet German lady. The appartment we stayed at belonged to this guy, Ali, who is friends with Felix, a boy that once stayed at my roommate's house and who she has stayed in contact with. The boys were both once students at UC Berkeley and were super nice and fun to hang out with!

The next day we woke up and headed for Oktoberfest. Holy crap, Oktoberfest. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen/experienced. It looks like a big giant German carnival--there are rides, neon lights, horse drawn carriages, and brawtworth stands and lederhosen everywhere. And of course, all the beer! There are enormous tents lining the streets that you wait possibly hours to get into--inside the tents are where you fight for a table (if you don't already have a reservation that you've made months in advance and paid rediculous amounts for) and only then are you albe to order your enormous stein of beer (which holds enough liquid equivilent to about 5 very alcoholic American beers) and it costs 8.50 euro. We got into the Paulaner tent (each tent is a different brand of German beer) and it was a good tent to be in since there were mostly authentic Germans and it wasn't overrun with tourists. The sight in the tent is almost unbeleiveable. People start drinking at like, 9 am and the fest doesn't end until 11:00 pm....and people just keep drinking more and more and the crowds get rowdier and rowdier. Oktoberfest is hundreds of thousands of drunk people in one area, literally. Nothing ever would happen like this in the States because of all the liabilities I'm sure. In the evening I saw tons of cops and people passing out and on stretchers needing medical attention which was frightening--but when you think about it, an event where 6 million people come to drink in tents all day long and not drink hardly any water and eat only salty German pretzels....there's bound to be problems. There's also live music in the tents complete with fun and festive German drinking songs that we didn't really know the words to. But for some reason, the Germans are OBSESSED with the beggining bass line of the White Stripe's song "Seven Naiton Army" and it was sung by the drunken crowds about once every hour. So weird. But basically Europe seems to be ten years behind the States in music. My roommates and I bought and wore drindls to get in the Oktoberfest spirit which was fun. Everywhere you look there are women wearing them in all colors and men and boys in their lederhosen. Love it.

After my roommates left Munich for Frankfurt, I was to meet up with Sarah Mier and Sarah Baresh, friends of mine I knew in high school, along with two of Sarah Baresh's roommates studying with her in Prague, Jill and Holly, and Srah Mier's friend from UCLA, Renee, who is studying in Florence. Before meeting up with them at the hotel we reserved I wandered the streets of Munich on my own for a while and saw the sights. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and took lots of pictures of the amazing buildings, beautiful parks, and German cathedrals, including the beautiful Glokenspiel of Munich. I eventually meet up with the girls at the hotel (all six of us were staying in one room with one bed to save precious euros which made for an adventure with plenty of cuddling in the night). With this group I spent two more days at Oktoberfest and by the end I was pretty Oktoberfested out. One day is tiring enough....yeah I was at the fest for three. Hardcore, I know. But there are many stories to tell.

I met all kinds of interesting people at both Oktoberfest and in Munich in general. We talked to lots of Germans of course, Austrians, Irish, English, Italian, French, Swiss people and a New Zealander. I've really enjoyed having discussions with Europeans about what they think of America (most of the time they say they think America is a great place and that Americans in general are unfairly stereotyped). Also, Europeans in general know A LOT about American politics and keep up regularly with what's going on with current election news. The Germans loved us when we told them we were American, but they loved us even more when we said we were from California (the men, mostly). And I got many curious questions when I told them I was from San Francisco regarding the homosexual population. Oh sterotypes, no surprise there.

In summary, Oktoberfest lives up to it's infamy times ten--it's one of the craziest festivals in the world, I'm sure of it. And of what I've seen of Germany so far, I love it! And I love what I've seen of its people and really want to go back and see more while I'm over here!

There are many more stories that I have about the fest and Munich, but it's too much to really contain in a blog. And some are just better shared in person so ask me later.

Now I'm back in Milano and I started classes today (finally). It's so weird that I haven't had class in so long so it feels good to get back into some sort of routine. I had Art History of the Renaissance focusing on Leonardo Da Vinci this morning and I think it's going to be more challenging than I had anticipated--but so far it seems awesome. We have field studies where we go visit sites in Milan that Leonardo made or took part in (including of course, The Last Supper). Leonardo is a big aspect of Milanese history, so it's cool that I get to take a class on him right here in Milan. I also had a literature class that is a comparative course on British Lit and Italian Lit that incorporates lots of history, poetry, film studies, etc. (basically it's a lot of Dante versus Chaucer) and it seems like a good class too. Tomorrow I have Masterpieces of Italian Literature in Translation, and later in October I begin my Italian language course (which is long overdue becasue I still can't speak Italian which has proven VERY difficult while living in Milano). With classes and homework and such during the week, I also am trying to plan my weekends which will mostly consist of traveling, traveling, and oh yes, traveling. I hope to go to either Switzerland or France to visit a Whitworth friend next weekend, and then after that I'm going to Prague!

It also happens to be my 21st birthday this thursday, October 2nd. So that's weird. I feel super old.

Ciao ciao my friends/family! You are all wonderful and I miss everyone A LOT.