02 October, 2008

Prost und Dodge 'ems

This past weekend I went to Oktoberfest in München! It was absoluetly amazing. I went with a Scottish girl and a British guy and girl. I was the only American. It was actually really nice because this has been the only time on this trip where I have been the only American. My roommate is American, other people in my class are American, and even people on my floor in my dorm are American. It was interesting to be the only one.
Anyway, I am pretty sure I have never had as much fun drinking beer. Also I am pretty sure I have never drinken that much beer in my entire life. As most of you who read this know, I hate beer in the States. Here, however, for some reason, it is substantially better. Every time you get beer at Oktoberfest you get a full liter of beer(I am pretty certain that the beer is stronger too. I was told about 6%-8% which is, for beer, a lot more than normal). It does average at about 8 euros a pop, but when you buy a beer normally here you get a half a liter most of the time and pay around 3.50 euros. So, it's very close.
Another thing that I did that I have never done in my life was drink before it got dark(I partially blame being in the company of brittish folks). I actually started on Friday around 2 pm and on Saturday around 9 am. You wouldn't believe it, but that is actually normal here. It is perfectly acceptable to wake up at 7 am and walk over to Oktoberfest and drink. There were actually more people there in the morning on Saturday then on Friday night. It was really odd. On Saturday morning there hundreds of people waiting in line to get into the tents. It was nuts!
On Friday afternoon, we actually were lucky enough to get into one of the tents and sit down! That never happens. We waited in line on Saturday for 2 hours and had to give up because we weren't getting anywhere. Anyway, the tent was a lot of fun. They are completely packed full of people and everyone was wearing lederhosen(people everywhere outside were as well but it was especially full of lederhosen inside the tents). In the middle of the tent there was a band playing music and every time they were playing, at least a handful of people were up on their tables drinking a dancing. Most of the time it was a lot more than a handful. Another cool think about the tents is that they serve either half of a chicken to you or an entire chicken. It was the best chicken I have ever had!
After my friends and I left the tent we went and decided to ride some of the rides. We decided to go ride the bumper cars. However, when I mentioned bumper cars I found out that I was horribly wrong and they are actually called Dodge 'ems. At least that is what the Brittish people call them. I didn't ride anymore rides but they rode a few others. They actually have a full size rollercoaster there! After we got our thrills we went to another tent with hopes of getting inside but we ended up only getting a table outside. It was still really fun but it was kind of cold and it rained a little bit later on. Anyway, that night we discovered that because everyone is either drunk or on their way there, people become really outgoing and just come up to your table and start to talk to you. We met this one kid named Anton and he was only 16 years old! Funny enough, that is completely legal! Another thing about this weekend is that it was what they call Italian weekend. It's when half the people at Oktoberfest are all Italian. We actually met a bunch of random Italian people that came and sat at our table....more drunk people.
I am probably not doing Oktoberfest any justice with my description, but all I have to say is: Go to Oktoberfest! It was an amazing experience and I think that everyone should do it as some point in their life! Until next time, Tchüss!

3 comments:

Emily McKnight said...

I really enjoyed reading this : )

I'm glad you had a great time! It would be interesting being the only American...

Anonymous said...

you know, drinking at 7 AM isn't that weird, every day I drive to school I see at least a few people on prospect and 55th doing the same thing

Unknown said...

Man I'm jealous!! I love beer!! I totally have to do Oktoberfest at some point in my life!

I'm glad your having a good time :).