well i can say that i survived it. the bus there took 16 very long hours, with about 30 min sleep, and we were 2 1/2 hours late, but we got to our hotel which was a 350$, 8'x8' square with 7 people in it, so we dropped our stuff off in the "closet" and preceded to downtown Munich. It is estimated that around 6 million people attend Oktoberfest every year, and I think all 6 million decided to go on that saturday, it was insane. Literally people shoulder to shoulder as far as the eye could see, and each one with about two liters of beer in them. We tried getting in the beer tents, there were about 12 of them and each seats about 1thousand, i guess. And each was full, so we left and got beers outside the main area and walked around Munich to return tomorrow morning. Munich is a beautiful city and every single person i met was nice and not only minded talking to you and helping you, but would offer to start a random conversation and since i speak no german and they all speak english it was great. But sunday morning at 10 am we go to the beer tents, which were already almost full and even though it was so early it was crazy, hundreds of tables and each packed with people, everyone singing and yelling and dancing on the tables. We all got our steins, 1 liter each, downed those, snuck them out (because its a 50euro fine to be caught stealing them, but its oktoberfest you have to) and we explored more of Munich and got on the bus back to Paris. The ride back was just as exhausting but we met this Canadian Nanny, who is 18 and has lived in Paris for a year and is going to Australia for college, she was really nice and extremely interesting, so we will all probably go out with her sometime in Paris. So all in all, great trip. Little sleep in either a bus or a cramped room, but I got to hang out with charlie on his 21st at Oktoberfest, meet some interesting people and spend time with my friends.
We had our first french party last friday and it was a great time. since my costume consisted of all bags, the theme was "anything but clothes", i was delegated as a bartender for a party of 200 french, spanish, german and some american students. there were 25 cases of beer and dozens of bottles of alcohol, a live brass band and all crammed in a little room. It was a good party, no major accidents and no injuries so a good start to our french and american relationship as students.
