After class on Thursday, six friends and I caught the last bus from Siena to Florence at 8:45. We arrived in Florence and waited for a couple of hours for the rest of the people to arrive that were using the same program as us (Bus2Alps). There ended up being about 300 of us, crowded into that train station, waiting to get on a bus to go to Munich. We were put onto one of four busses, and next thing I know, we were being hauled off to Germany. The bus ride down was wonderful because I could sleep the entire way, since travel was from midnight to 8 AM. I closed my eyes, dozed off, and next thing I knew, I woke up in Germany. We stopped at a rest stop about an hour outside of Munich, and I can’t explain to you the beautiful view we found at this rest stop. It’s like, everywhere you look in Germany, there is something beautiful to see. We finally arrive at our campgrounds, get everything unpacked into our tents, and decide we would use this day to explore the city of Munich. We got on a bus, hopped on a train for a little bit, and ended up in the middle of Munich. Coming up the stairs from the train station, I had to double take at the overwhelming beauty of Munich. Right where we exited the train station, the first thing you see is this HUGE gothic looking cathedral thing. Then you look to your left and you see old fashioned towers and bridges and fountains. The buildings are so old here but look completely different than the buildings in Italy. It felt like I walked straight into a movie set of “old fashioned Germany”, only it was real life.
We walked around for most of the day, exploring Germany on our own, not really knowing where we were going. I kept telling the friends that I was with that I felt so safe in Munich and comforted. It was a strange feeling being in a brand new city, not knowing the language, not knowing the first thing about what is around you, not knowing where to go or what to do, but you still feel at ease and pleased just strolling around town. Naturally, for lunch I had bratwurst and a couple of my friends had pretzels. Around 4:00, we went on a guided bike tour of Munich, coordinated by Bus2Alps. This was included in the package we bought for Oktoberfest. The tour took us to all of the important landmarks in the city, such as government offices, the opera house, and famous plazas. It also took us on a ride through the largest park in the world (yes, its even bigger than central park in NYC). I wish I could have been on my bike and take pictures at the same time because the park was the most amazing place I’d seen yet. It was miles of green space, waterfalls, bike paths, families with their babies, people walking their dogs, dudes chilling out naked by the river (yes, grown men just hanging out completely naked which was kinda weird), couples eating a picnic by the river, and students studying under trees. Inside of the park is one of the largest outdoor beer gardens in the world where we spent 45 minutes of our bike tour hanging out. After that, we hopped back on our bikes and rode down to where the river creates natural waves. Waves that people can surf on. We watched people of surfboards taking turns riding the waves, some of them were not even 12 years old probably. It was amazing the amount of skill these people had. We finally rode back into the city where our tour ended. Our night ended by going back to the campground and having a party with the rest of the people from Bus2Alps and getting ready for the next day.
Saturday was complete insanity. I woke up at 5:30, got a shower because sleeping in a tent makes you feel and smell really funky, got some breakfast, and got on the bus at 7 AM to go wait to get into one of the beer tents at Oktoberfest. Since this was the first day of Oktoberfest of the year, I knew it would be packed, but not as packed as it was. When I got there at 7:30, there were already close to probably a couple thousand people in line. Yes, thousand. And they didn't even open the doors until 9:00 AM. I spent the next two hours packed like sardines, shoulder to shoulder, with strangers. At the end of the two hours, I made friends with the Australian people to my right and also some girls from California to my left. All of a sudden, 9 AM hit, and the crowd went wild, seriously wild. Being pushed at all angles, shuffling into the beer tent, was a feeling that I will never ever forget. Surrounded by people I don’t know, all of them all up in my business, forcing their way into a beer tent, pushing me around, you would think that I would get a little annoyed. Instead, it was one of the coolest, most exciting things ever that people get so eager to get into the tent. I remember just looking around being like, “This is absolutely insane.” When we got into the tent, we could barely find a spot to sit but the two girls from California that I was mentioned earlier, found a spot for them, myself, and my friend from Siena to all sit. This just happened to be by a group of rowdy Germans. We couldn’t have picked a better spot. For the next three hours, we waited. The mayor was coming to tap the keg at noon and until then, we had nothing to do but wait. The three hours went by pretty slowly since I was so tired, but around 11:45, a traditional German band came marching in and playing music and I knew that it was almost time. After the band got all set up, the mayor walked up to the stage looking over the ten thousand person tent. He said some stuff in German, and everyone cheered. He welcomed us to Oktoberfest, and with that, the keg was opened. The noise in the tent when the keg was opened was insane, people kissed each other, hugged each other, grown men were literally crying, all of this because of beer, which I don't really understand, but then again I'm not German. I spent 4 more hours in the tent, talking to people, singing songs such Sweet Caroline and Hey Baby with my new German buddies, the girls from California, and my friend from school. Around 4:00 I decided it was time to find a new place to go. I wandered around Oktoberfest and looked at all of the vendors, the rides, and the tents. The first tent I was in was the HB tent, notorious for being the best. A man that I had met on the bus in Siena told me that the best tent was the Hacker tent, so I spent an hour in there and it was cool but it wasn’t as good as the first one. After wandering around Oktoberfest for most of the day, I headed back to the campground where they had a couple of live bands for us as well as a traditional German dinner.
The next day, I skipped out on Oktoberfest and made the decision to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, about a 15-minute train ride away. The feeling of being in a place with such a sad and horrific history is something that I will never be able to explain. I couldn’t even bring myself to take pictures of the area simply because of the sadness that fills the air there. It was such an eye opening and humbling experience, and is something that I will never ever forget. I could have spent hours and hours and hours there, reading everything but unfortunately my time in Germany was at an end. Around 3:00, I was back on the bus, heading back to Florence.
When we arrived in Florence, we realized that all of the busses and trains from Florence to Siena had ended for the night. We spent midnight to 1 AM in the train station until it closed and they kicked us out. After that, we walked across the street to the 24 hour McDonalds. I bought a Coke Zero (which is much better than Coke Zero in the states) and sat at a table until 5:30 in the morning. The security in McDonalds would kick you out if they found out you were sleeping, so I had to stay awake. At 5:30, my friends and I went to the bus station and our bus to Siena came at 6:15. I slept for 45 minutes on the bus, got home, showered, did homework, and went to school.
After this insane weekend in Germany… I realized something about the time I’ve spent here in Europe. Even though Munich was the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to and definitely on the list of one of my favorite places, I was excited to come back to Siena. I even told one of my friends, “I can’t wait to get home.” It took me off-guard that a place that I had only been for a little less than 3 three weeks had already earned the title of my home. Munich was amazing and wonderful, but the atmosphere in Siena is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to spend time here without it feeling like home. I was so excited to see my host mom this morning and I didn’t think I would be as happy as I was when I finally got back. I guess it took me spending an extended amount of time away for me to realize how much of an impact Siena has made of me so quickly. It is a really good feeling knowing that I made the right choice in where I chose to stay. And as strange as it seems, I feel like Siena has finally become “home” to me for these next month, and I’ve become comfortable in this new place. I am no longer staying in a place that isn't my own, but a place that has become mine. And that is a really cool feeing.
Until next time...
Auf Wiedersehen!
We walked around for most of the day, exploring Germany on our own, not really knowing where we were going. I kept telling the friends that I was with that I felt so safe in Munich and comforted. It was a strange feeling being in a brand new city, not knowing the language, not knowing the first thing about what is around you, not knowing where to go or what to do, but you still feel at ease and pleased just strolling around town. Naturally, for lunch I had bratwurst and a couple of my friends had pretzels. Around 4:00, we went on a guided bike tour of Munich, coordinated by Bus2Alps. This was included in the package we bought for Oktoberfest. The tour took us to all of the important landmarks in the city, such as government offices, the opera house, and famous plazas. It also took us on a ride through the largest park in the world (yes, its even bigger than central park in NYC). I wish I could have been on my bike and take pictures at the same time because the park was the most amazing place I’d seen yet. It was miles of green space, waterfalls, bike paths, families with their babies, people walking their dogs, dudes chilling out naked by the river (yes, grown men just hanging out completely naked which was kinda weird), couples eating a picnic by the river, and students studying under trees. Inside of the park is one of the largest outdoor beer gardens in the world where we spent 45 minutes of our bike tour hanging out. After that, we hopped back on our bikes and rode down to where the river creates natural waves. Waves that people can surf on. We watched people of surfboards taking turns riding the waves, some of them were not even 12 years old probably. It was amazing the amount of skill these people had. We finally rode back into the city where our tour ended. Our night ended by going back to the campground and having a party with the rest of the people from Bus2Alps and getting ready for the next day.
Saturday was complete insanity. I woke up at 5:30, got a shower because sleeping in a tent makes you feel and smell really funky, got some breakfast, and got on the bus at 7 AM to go wait to get into one of the beer tents at Oktoberfest. Since this was the first day of Oktoberfest of the year, I knew it would be packed, but not as packed as it was. When I got there at 7:30, there were already close to probably a couple thousand people in line. Yes, thousand. And they didn't even open the doors until 9:00 AM. I spent the next two hours packed like sardines, shoulder to shoulder, with strangers. At the end of the two hours, I made friends with the Australian people to my right and also some girls from California to my left. All of a sudden, 9 AM hit, and the crowd went wild, seriously wild. Being pushed at all angles, shuffling into the beer tent, was a feeling that I will never ever forget. Surrounded by people I don’t know, all of them all up in my business, forcing their way into a beer tent, pushing me around, you would think that I would get a little annoyed. Instead, it was one of the coolest, most exciting things ever that people get so eager to get into the tent. I remember just looking around being like, “This is absolutely insane.” When we got into the tent, we could barely find a spot to sit but the two girls from California that I was mentioned earlier, found a spot for them, myself, and my friend from Siena to all sit. This just happened to be by a group of rowdy Germans. We couldn’t have picked a better spot. For the next three hours, we waited. The mayor was coming to tap the keg at noon and until then, we had nothing to do but wait. The three hours went by pretty slowly since I was so tired, but around 11:45, a traditional German band came marching in and playing music and I knew that it was almost time. After the band got all set up, the mayor walked up to the stage looking over the ten thousand person tent. He said some stuff in German, and everyone cheered. He welcomed us to Oktoberfest, and with that, the keg was opened. The noise in the tent when the keg was opened was insane, people kissed each other, hugged each other, grown men were literally crying, all of this because of beer, which I don't really understand, but then again I'm not German. I spent 4 more hours in the tent, talking to people, singing songs such Sweet Caroline and Hey Baby with my new German buddies, the girls from California, and my friend from school. Around 4:00 I decided it was time to find a new place to go. I wandered around Oktoberfest and looked at all of the vendors, the rides, and the tents. The first tent I was in was the HB tent, notorious for being the best. A man that I had met on the bus in Siena told me that the best tent was the Hacker tent, so I spent an hour in there and it was cool but it wasn’t as good as the first one. After wandering around Oktoberfest for most of the day, I headed back to the campground where they had a couple of live bands for us as well as a traditional German dinner.
The next day, I skipped out on Oktoberfest and made the decision to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, about a 15-minute train ride away. The feeling of being in a place with such a sad and horrific history is something that I will never be able to explain. I couldn’t even bring myself to take pictures of the area simply because of the sadness that fills the air there. It was such an eye opening and humbling experience, and is something that I will never ever forget. I could have spent hours and hours and hours there, reading everything but unfortunately my time in Germany was at an end. Around 3:00, I was back on the bus, heading back to Florence.
When we arrived in Florence, we realized that all of the busses and trains from Florence to Siena had ended for the night. We spent midnight to 1 AM in the train station until it closed and they kicked us out. After that, we walked across the street to the 24 hour McDonalds. I bought a Coke Zero (which is much better than Coke Zero in the states) and sat at a table until 5:30 in the morning. The security in McDonalds would kick you out if they found out you were sleeping, so I had to stay awake. At 5:30, my friends and I went to the bus station and our bus to Siena came at 6:15. I slept for 45 minutes on the bus, got home, showered, did homework, and went to school.
After this insane weekend in Germany… I realized something about the time I’ve spent here in Europe. Even though Munich was the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to and definitely on the list of one of my favorite places, I was excited to come back to Siena. I even told one of my friends, “I can’t wait to get home.” It took me off-guard that a place that I had only been for a little less than 3 three weeks had already earned the title of my home. Munich was amazing and wonderful, but the atmosphere in Siena is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to spend time here without it feeling like home. I was so excited to see my host mom this morning and I didn’t think I would be as happy as I was when I finally got back. I guess it took me spending an extended amount of time away for me to realize how much of an impact Siena has made of me so quickly. It is a really good feeling knowing that I made the right choice in where I chose to stay. And as strange as it seems, I feel like Siena has finally become “home” to me for these next month, and I’ve become comfortable in this new place. I am no longer staying in a place that isn't my own, but a place that has become mine. And that is a really cool feeing.
Until next time...
Auf Wiedersehen!