These pretzels are making me thirsty.. (Sept. 18-19)

We boarded the 1 am bus to Dublin on Friday at the Cork bus station extremely eager for the adventure that awaited. We had booked our trip to Oktoberfest earlier this summer and had been looking forward to it for months. 3 hours later we arrived at the Dublin airport, a few hours before our flight. We decided to find somewhere to eat breakfast around 5 am. Upon sitting down, we quickly realized that we were standing out. Not because we were American, for once, but because we were not drinking beers. No joke, at 5 in the morning at the airport breakfast restaurant every single person had a beer with their eggs. We held strong and drank our water and then met up with our Holy Cross friends from Cork who were taking the same flight to Munich. Once aboard, I fell asleep easily and woke up right before landing. We got tickets and then right on the subway once we arrived in Germany. The subway is actually super easy to figure out, even though it is almost completely in German. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the culture shock hit me quick. This last month, I have been surrounded by ridiculously nice, English speaking, American loving Irish people.. and I was NOT in Kansas anymore. The signs, instructions and subway announcements were in German and no one on the subway returned a smile or spoke a word. Luckily, Brendan and Sarah had been in Germany for SIE a few months back and had warned me of this, but still it took some getting used to. They also remembered enough from their trip to get us to the area near our hostel with ease, which was a huge help.

Once we got to the hostel, we just dropped our bags and freshened up a bit. Then we took the subway again (conveniently located directly across the street from our Hostel- named Jäger, like the alcohol) to Marienplatz City Center and they showed me some sights. As soon as we walked up onto the street from the subway I was amazed. The Neues Rataus (New town hall) was directly in front of me and I have truly never seen a more intricate or beautifully built building. They informed me that it has moving parts called the Rathaus- Glockenspiel which has life-sized moving parts at various times throughout the day, I got to see this later that night. We then walked to an outdoor market/beer garden with countless shops selling fruit, sausages, sandwiches, raw meats, fresh cheese and, of course, beer. In the middle of all the stands were rows of dozens of long tables filled with people drinking and socializing. We grabbed some food and (.5 liter) beers and then joined the end of a table. We relaxed here for a while and explored the market area and then went to Sankt Peter's Church, which was very close. After walking up LOTS of stairs (we have to balance out the beers) we were able to see most of Munich from above. Despite the hot and sunny weather at grown level (which was a pleasant change to wet season in Ireland currently), it was windy up top. However, Brendan informed us that when he has climbed last time he was able to see some of the Swiss Alps! We took great photos and then continued our day. Though we were tired (had not gone to bed at all besides the nap on the plane since Thursday), we made the decision to get coffee, go to the Hostel to check in, change and see our rooms and then continue to explore Munich. The hostel room was clean.. two bunk beds and our own bathroom. However, there were only 3 of us in this 4 bed room and were informed that we may be joined by another at some point.. TBA.

We then took the subway back to Marienplatz and went to dinner below the Neues Rataus, called The Ratskeller. The menu was available in English and the waiter was very nice, so we were happy. After avoiding everything sausage-looking on the menu, I decided on a pork loin dish and hoped for the best (it was actually pretty good, just VERY salty). Next we went to the Hauffbrahaus, which was a blast!! The inside was gorgeous and extremely lively. The building was huge, with two floors and many rooms of long bench sided wooden tables (think Harry Potter). Everyone was laughing and drinking beer by the liter (Steins). After a bit of searching, we found an open table and continued our night. We were soon joined by a few Australian women, who were also attending Oktoberfest, and bonded over our hatred for our RUDE waitress and love for Thumper (a drinking game). All three of us (Brendan, Sarah, and I) are very social and make friends easily, so we have amazing stories and experiences getting to know so many new people and hear about their lives and views while traveling. After hours at the Hauffbrahaus we wanted a change of scenery so we decided to explore the city a bit more with our new friends. We ended up at ___________ around 8 where we had a great time. A very friendly bartender and too much money later we were dancing the night away. We got back safely (thank you Brendan) and woke up the next morning to two surprises. One, a tall Russian man who had joined our slumber party on the top bunk of Sarah's bed while we slept (thank god for lockers and padlocks in the rooms). The second was, Delaney and Brianna had arrived!!

They seem to be liking Italy, but having a much different experience abroad then I am. Florence is a very large city and they are living with roommates who mostly keep to themselves. Unlike my small city of Cork and roommates that I am sharing meals and nights out with. There are other Bryant students also in Florence, however they have not been placed in the same areas of the city, nor been made aware that they had fellow students abroad in the same city. I find that odd, since us 4 Bryant students all ended up in the same apartment, on the same floor, without any requests. They spoke about having to hold their bags close when they walk the streets, not being able to use credit cards or ATMSs because of theft and the difficulty of the language barrier. Asking for simple items like sandwich bags is even a large issue in grocery stores and they have had a more difficult time finding day to day products that they are used to having at home. I am very excited to visit them in 2 weeks, but am still happy with my choice of Cork. They seem to be equally looking forward to seeing Ireland, meet the friendly people and be surrounded by more familiar culture for a weekend. I am so glad that we are all fortunate enough to have these abroad experiences, have experiences together while here and also share our abroad areas with each other. Speaking of time spent together.. OKTOBERFEST!

So we cracked and bought the traditional Dirndl dresses because we were told it would really help us get more into the experience and so 40 euros later we looked like Dorothy, Little Bo Peep and Little Red Riding Hood.. LOL. We took the girls to the beer garden/outdoor market, that we were at the day prior, and relaxed there for a while swapping stories from our experiences abroad so far and catching up. We actually bumped into other Bryant kids while sitting here! How small the world really is! We see Bryant students who are also abroad and attending Oktoberfest who we did not even know were there. After a couple Steins, we went back to the hostel to let them rest, they had traveled through the night. A little later we grabbed dinner at a Brewery, where I tried boiled veil which was actually delicious. I never ate sausage while in Germany, which is probably a sin, but it freaks me out! After, we went back to the Hauffsbrahaus and met some New Zealanders who were not our biggest fans. However, they did tell us the history of the Hauff. and gave us various tips for Oktoberfest, since they had been four times. We went back fairly early that night because we ere getting up at 6 am the next day for the festival.

To be continued...