Anyway, as a result of higher-than-projected expenses, we had to get creative with our lodging and transportation. So, we turned to couchsurfing.com and carpooling.
Now, I know that to any well-trained American, partaking in either of these seems like asking to be chopped up into a million pieces and being thrown into a ditch on the side of the road by a manic serial killer (believe me, I've watched more Criminal Minds than you). But for us, there was an out to each situation if it didn't work out. We could always book a hostel if we had to (though I'd rather not spend $150 PER NIGHT), and if the people I was riding with seemed sketchy, well, there is a train to Munich (for 100 EURO).
But, luckily, everything ended up working out beautifully. Especially the carpooling. This was the avenue that I had the most reservations with, as I was going alone. At least with the couchsurfing, it would be Reillie and a couple of other girls meeting up with me. However, I met the COOLEST people doing it this way.
I found the drivers, Chris and Lourdes, via one of the many, many carpooling websites in Europe. It's a pretty common thing to do here, with the cost of gas being so high and the practicality of Germans. Anyway, these two were a couple, just a few years older than me, and I want to be best friends with them. The girl, Lourdes, was originally from Spain, but spent a year in Chicago as a student, and spent her summers in California growing up (two points of interest right there). She had just moved to Stuttgart two weeks earlier to be with Chris. He was German, originally from Hamburg but now working in Stuttgart. He went to high school and university in Minneapolis, and then studied abroad in France and Thailand. The conversation was amazing, everyone spoke English as the common language (except for the fourth girl in the car who read her book the entire time...), they played awesome music, and their Mercedes would out even the nicest of trains to shame.
Once we arrived in Munich, they dropped me and the other girl off at the "hauptbahnhof" (main train station), where I met up with another girl, Katie. She is working as an au pair in Berlin. I had never met her until then, but we were introduced on facebook. She is a friend of my best friend Abby's cousin Julia (did you get that?). As I mentioned before, the world becomes much smaller when you're isolated in a foreign country.
Anyway, we took the U-Bahn (thank goodness she knew how it works; I would have been stranded or taking a cab if I was by myself) to where we were staying with the couchsurfing guy that Reillie found. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with couchsurfing, it's a website where people all over the world post their willingness to either host, or their need for a host in a specific city. The whole idea behind it is not only to make traveling more budget-friendly, but also to help people network and make new friends. (I still see it as largely an opportunity to mooch).
Now, even with another person, we STILL managed to get lost finding our way to this guy's place. I mean, we weren't really THAT lost, just about a block away but he still had to come rescue us (I actually rather would have been really lost, that's a better story and it's somehow less embarrassing than practically being there and not finding it). His name was Mike, he's a Costa Rican living in Munich for university (he looks like a German though...blonde hair, blue eyes...wouldn't know he was Costa Rican aside from the Spanish accent). The differences between a German and a Spanish speaker were immediately obvious, as he greeted each of us, two perfect strangers, with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. Welcome to Oktoberfest.
There was still quite a bit of time to kill, since we arrived at around 10 pm and Rellie and the girls she was traveling with were still about four hours away. So, we grabbed a few drinks and chatted. Katie talked about about Berlin and her host family (mine is better), and Mike told us about his world travels. He's only 22, but has been to almost 60 countries (more than I will have the energy to see in a lifetime) and speaks Spanish, English, German, Italian, some Russian, and another one that I cannot even remember. Absurd. However, I still came off as cool because he really wants to visit New Zealand, but hasn't yet, and I'm kind of an expert on that stupid, perfect country. He also was a huge Lord of the Rings fan, so that was enough to win him my seal of approval.
Reillie and her traveling companions (two girls from Argentina) arrived at around 2 am and then it was straight off to bed since were were waking up at 6 am to make sure we were in line for a ten by 7:30 am. Now, if you're like me, and you jump into things without thinking, then these "tents" are a foreign language to you, and conjure images of a very large "Easy Up". Not quite so. These tents are HUGE temporary buildings that can hold thousands of people. Unfortunately, the weekend we were at Oktoberfest is the busiest one of all (apparently all the Italians come then for whatever reason), with a projected attendance of 200,000 people. It was insane. We got in line for one of the bigger tents (Paulaner) at 8 am, and stood in line FOR THREE HOURS. It actually really was kind of awful if you have personal space issues (as I do) because, especially as you get closer to the entrance, you're like sardines in a tin.
Just when I was ready to say forget Oktoberfest, we FINALLY got inside and ordered our first beers. And when I say we got inside, we were able to sit down at a table outside the tent in the beer garden. All that waiting and we couldn't even get all the way inside to the music. I wish I could say I was disappointed, but that beer is really strong and once the first one was done, it all gets a bit fuzzy. But I know we had fun. We made friends with some guys from Switzerland (they had a lot more money to spare than us poor American au pairs), and people from Italy, and Germany, and Australia (No Kiwis, unfortunately) and all in all just had a blast talking to people and hearing stories, and yelling and singing and just having a good old time. I wish I could give you more of a description, but the anecdotes are coming back slowly and not all at once.
Anyway, I lasted until about 3 pm, and then realized that perhaps I should have stopped at 2 liters of beer rather than going for a third. So, I made my way back to where we were staying, took a nap from about 4-6:30, woke up feeling awesome, and started drinking rum in preparation for a Spanish party that was going on nearby. That ended up being SOO much fun. I remember more Spanish than I thought, can understand most of it, and just like listening to Spanish music. We danced, and talked and no one was in bed earlier than 3 am.
But we paid for it the next day. It was essentially a wasted day until we dragged ourselves to McDonald's at 3 pm(felt WAY sicker after eating that, actually). Not anyone's proudest day.
And then it was time to go home. I met back up with Chris and Lourdes, we traded stories, Facebook friended each other (Not even joking, I want to be real friends), and then I was back in Kornwestheim, probably looking worse for wear, but really feeling happy.
Because it was exactly how I predicted; the first two weeks were so rough. It's really hard to be in a new country and not know the language or anyone there, but as soon as you get out and start meeting people and appreciating where you are instead of wishing for what you can't have, everything gets better. I felt normal again; I adore this family, but there's a lot to be said for the restorative properties of goofing off with peers.
Also, only managed to take two photos while I was there. I'll do better with future travels.
Stay tuned, for next weekend's Paris saga!
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