Oktoberfest: September 30, 2006

Who can be in Germany for just one year and not go to Oktoberfest? Despite my preconcieved notions about this huge festival in Munich, I was not prepared by any means for what I encountered. The train ride there was the start of a very interesting, very long day.

A large group of ERASMUS students took a Regional Bahn train from Bamberg to Munich. Now, Regional Bahns are much slower than InterCity Express (ICE) trains, which means that we were on the train for roughly four hours. Of course, the poor college students did this to save money. The closer we got to Munich, the more revelers were piling onto the train. And the Germans came prepared to feast.

One particular group of Germans, bedecked in Dirndls and Lederhosen, of course, was equipped with small kegs of beer to drink from (meaning 5 liters), glasses from which to drink said beer, and rolls, salami, and cheese to make a tasty snack. And radishes. Yes, radishes. An entire bunch of radishes to snack on. Interesting.

Once we arrived in Munich, we decided to break up into smaller groups. Mine consisted of about 6 people. We also really had no idea which way to go. Luckily, there were thousands of people to lead us, so we just followed the crowd. As we got near the actual grounds, we started seeing people passed out along the rode. This, we all thought, was hilarious. Until we realized that there were people passed out everywhere. We arrived at 2 pm, and there were hundreds of people lying on curbs, in the grass, on steps, anywhere they could find to pass out.

There were traditional German clothes, pretzels, tourists everywhere, and cookie hearts to be worn around your neck proclaiming things like "Ich liebe dich". Not to the mention the beer, and lots of it. We did not arrive early enough to obtain a seat in one of the many tents crammed with hundreds of Germans and tourists alike. One could not even stand for longer than 5 seconds without getting rammed in the back by a waitress carrying no less than 10 liters of beers in steins to thirsty festival goers.

Once we were able to order our own liter of beer, we found a curb to sit on, across from a hill covered in people sleeping off their morning beers. Amusingly enough, two guys from Amsterdam sat next to us. One was so excited to meet Americans that he exclaimed, "I've been looking for you all day!" The other grumbled about how Germany "sucks" and the girls don't shave their armpits. How amusing. They subsequently passed out about half an hour later.

After a while, two members of our group went back for another beer and the rest of us stayed planted on the curb. It was an entirely different experience because I expected to be sitting in a beer tent, chatting it up with new people who just happened to be sitting next to me. Although I was still chatting with new people, I was outside on a curb overlooking hundreds of drunk or already passed out people. There were too many people for my taste, but I'm definitely glad I was able to attend such a famous event.