Semester a la España: No Sprechen Deutsches

"No Sprechen Deutsches," "I don't speak German," was probably our most useful phrase throughout the weekend. That and "Danke," "Thank you." However, in Germany they have to take 9 years of English so it was never difficult to communicate with any Germans throughout our weekend festivities.

DAY 1:
Caroline, Laurence and I flew from Madrid to Munich on Thursday afternoon and got in around 4pm. Coop and Larry had to take an overnight bus to Madrid because our flight was at 1pm and they are in Granada, almost 6 hrs away from Madrid. And they got to wait at the airport since 7am. I luckily am only an hour from Madrid. But their wait turned out better since they got to eat their first Magnum ice cream, which they said is like a Dove Bar but better... I still have yet to try one. Anyway, Caroline and Laurence luckily had no classes on Thursday and no one has classes on Friday, but I skipped my classes on Thursday.

So we got into this tiny plane with maybe 20 rows and only two seats on each side (See Facebook album for pictures and don't mind the one with Laurence in the corner not looking too happy). My backpack didn't even fit in the overhead bin cuz they were so small! And, just for future reference, they don't announce when they start boarding the plane so PAY ATTENTION!
Once we took off, they served us a legit full course meal with bread and desert pastry. Of course the meal itself was typical airplane food but the bread and pastry were good, little did we know that bread would be our food for almost every meal in Germany. They also offered us beer or wine FOR FREE, but none of us boozed on the plane. That didn't stop the girl our age sitting across from me already dressed up in her Oktoberfest costume from ordering a beer and drinking it from the bottle instead of pouring it in the plastic cup the stewardess gave her.

So we left sunny, 75+ degree Spain and arrived into Munich to find ourselves digging into our bags for our fleeces AND rain coats. But our excitement overshadowed the gray skies. Once we got our luggage, we had to figure out how to get from the airport to our hostel. The train system is not easy. I still don't understand it. So after stupidly looking at the directions in German for 5 minutes we went to the information desk and got a ticket for the 3 of us. 18 Euros. Then we found out that they never check your ticket, and you don't have to put it in any little machine for the machine to let you through. It's an honor system type thing. So on the way back we didn't pay. I in no way advise or condone this, but if you also do not pay, you'll be among the majority of people who just walk into the station and get on the train.
Our train ride took an hour. But we did get to see all the German men, women, teens, and kids dressed up in their costumes. It was amazing.

Once we got off the train Laurence and I found our way to the hostel, Caroline wasn't allowed to touch the map since she just would've gotten us lost.
Once the hostel situation was taken care of, and Larry and Coop were relieved that their hostel wasn't sketchy, we headed out in the rain to check out Oktoberfest. Aside from the downpour, walking into that park was a kid in the candy store exciting. It's like a carnival with huge buildings that they call tents that have long wooden tables full of people from all over with huge beer steins full of beer and they're all dancing and shouting on top of the tables. To top it all off, there are TONS of different stands selling souvenirs, roasted chickens, duck, brawts, crepes, chocolate covered fruit (we had chocolate covered bananas and strawberries HIGHLY recommended!), pretzels, fish sandwiches and sooo much more. But the most exciting of all was probably the roller coasters. I mean these aren't Six Flags Great America type roller coasters but they just as great.

Anyway, I can't write about our first night without talking about our first beer tent experience and Sue. The three of us has absolutely NO idea how to get into these tents and there were crowds of people waiting at the doors. So we went to some tent with a really long German name that I won't even attempt to write and went to the side door that had a short line. We waited maybe 20 min. and had to stand next to this annoying British guy around our age, probably as tall as me, blonde, with glasses and every time he spoke he created a lot of spit where it would build up on the corners of his mouth (I know all of you know someone who that happens to when they talk). It was disturbing and he was drunk and all he kept saying was I was in front of you in line over and over again. Well turns out patience and not being annoying to the security guards gets you in. And when the security guard pointed to me I told him there were 3 of us and the British guy was like "Four" but he didn't get in. Haha

The place was huge. And packed. And everyone was dancing and cheering. So we decided to join in. We stood by the place where the waitresses get the beer and Sue came up to us and asked us if we wanted beer. She got our beer and told us to follow her and she pushed her way through the crowd and carrying about 8 beers at one time (I'm still astonished as to how they do it), and put them down on a table. The tables were packed so we just stood there drinking our beers and these people on the table next to us soon became our best friends. One of the women sewed her own costume because she said they're so expensive. And the other two guys were a couple and there was one other guy who was one of the exes of one of the guys in the couple. But don't worry, he's married now so there was no tension. We got all of this from the woman. On another note, Sue was the best, she took really good care of us.

Anyway, after all the beer, food and rides, Caroline got some nuts. The warm, candied nuts that call you from miles away with their strong smell. She almost bought two bags but Laurence made us leave. They then took me to meet up with Liz and Tupper who got in late because we shared a hotel room for the night.

DAY 2:
Everyone who was missing got in on Saturday at different times and we finally got to get into our room once Glenna and Em got to the hotel to check-in. Nine girls to one room. There were two twin beds, and a cot. Two people slept in each bed and cot and then the other three slept on the floor in between the beds. But we switched who got the beds each night. And what we thought would be a disaster when we showered turned out really well because we all showered at different times of the day.
That day all of us but Marge, who was the last to get in went to one of the tents to meet up with the guys from school who were there too, and we waited in line to get into the tent when a group of guys called us over to sit with them in their outside table. Turns out they were all from North Carolina. There was one South African guy and one British guy who sat with them too, but they werent with them. The British guy tried to get us to play this horrible game of Fives that half of us didn't understand and then the other half didn't pay attention. So he resorted to making people chug their beers. He chanted "I call on (insert name) to chug us a beer" or something like that. And every time someone started to chug, this table full of Italians (there were tons of Italians all weekend) would cheer them on. The guy was really pushy though and when he called on me to chug a beer I told him no. It kind of killed the game for him until someone turned the tables around and called on him and he wouldn't do it either.

Anyway, Marge was the last to get in at night so we all went back to the hotel room to meet her, which we had to go in and out of in shifts so we wouldn't get caught. But the tents close at 10:30/11pm, really early! So Friday night wasn't too eventful since once Marge got there and we got into the tents it was too late to have a beer. But it turned out well since Glenna was sooo excited about Oktoberfest she woke us all up at 7am to get up and get in line to try to get in one of the tents.

DAY 3:
7am: Glenna's alarm goes off.
Glenna: Whispering "Caroline, should I get in the shower?"
No answer.
Glenna: "Caroline, Caroline, Should I get in the shower?"
Caroline: "Yea Glenna, whatever"
So we all woke up early and got breakfast and went to Hofbrau Tent to try to get inside. We split up though and half of us got a table outside while the rest tried to get inside and failed. But we sat under the heaters and it was all good!
From 9am to around 2pm we drank. And the troopers, Em, Glenna, Tupper and Laurence stayed at the table and drank all day, in moderation of course, those beers are HUGE. But Liz, Marge, Coop, Cassie and I had to go take a nap. We also stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get some fruit and because all we'd been eating was bread: pretzels and cheese bread were my staple.

After our nap, later that night we decided to go back and tried to get into the Hofbrau tent and Lowenbrau but both were beyond full and so we went to Paulaner and waited maybe 20 min and actually got in at like 8pm!
As we waited for Glenna to meet us, this group of Germans dressed in their Leiderhosin (I'm not sure how you spell it) came up to us started dancing, and one of them put his beer up to Cassie's mouth and made her drink, then he did it to me. Oh My Gosh. All I could think of was what he put in this drink, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow in a park with all my money and belongings gone. Turns out I was wrong. Another of the guys gave his beer to Caroline and they invited us up to the balcony, where all the VIP/Reserved tables were. But we couldn't leave Glenna, who had managed to push herself to the front of the line and was the first one at the door. So one of the guys walked up to the security guard and told him to let Glenna in, but the security guard told him that he would let people in again in 15 min. He then went up to the security guard checking wristbands at the stairs to go up to balcony and told him that Glenna was Caroline's girlfriend and they were from Scotland. So Caroline had to ask to let Glenna in and do it with gestures because she doesn't have a Scottish accent. We got her in though. AND we got up to the VIP section. AND we got free beer, free food, free roses, and found out we were sitting with caterers and CEO manufacturers of beer. They were from Hanover and had three tables and were invited by the Paulaner tent to come for Oktoberfest. It was probably the best ending to the weekend ever!!!!

We all sang, and took pictures with them and one of the waitresses brought a cheese and fruit platter on the table. They didn't know too much English, but we all got along great!

Sunday was probably the saddest morning because we all said goodbye. But it was definitely one of the best weekends I've had!