Okotoberfest in Munich

This weekend, I went to Okotoberfest in Munich, Germany with a group of friends.

We went through a study abroad program called Florence For Fun that gives you bus transportation to and from the event and group leaders to be your points of reference throughout the day if you have any questions or an emergency.

This is my second time using a study abroad program for a trip, and I have positive feedback every time!

I love that through this program you meet so many people who are studying abroad in a variety of places, you make a ton of friends to spend time with throughout your trip and gain contacts to meet up again on another trip. It’s always fun to hear that people live close to you in the United States; it’s such a small world we live in!

Oktoberfest was everything I could have asked for and more.

We arrived at the festival around 8:30 a.m. and went straight into line at the tent Hofbräuhaus.

There were hundreds of people already in line and once the doors opened, people were jumping over tables and benches and you could hardly move; it was insane. We managed to make it inside and get at the end of a table with our tour leaders and a few other kids and got our steins of beer!

By 9:30 a.m., everyone was singing and dancing; the energy was through the roof. Every now and then, someone would be brave and stand on his or her table and, with that, the entire crowd would roar with excitement to see if he or she is going to finish the stein of beer and either applauded you or booed you off the table.

After we were finished in Hofbräuhaus, we decided to go walk around the festival and go on some rides and play games. Unfortunately, when you leave a tent, it’s close to impossible to get back in, so we spent the remainder of the day enjoying the rest of the festival.

My favorite part was running into my brother!

My brother is stationed in Germany for the US Army and was at Oktoberfest with a few of his friends for the weekend. We had no way of contacting each other, so when I heard someone scream “hello sister!” I jumped on him and hugged him and became emotional; it was so nice to be able to spend time with him, especially in Germany.

I would love to go back to Germany and see more of it, but I’m happy I was able to experience an event that has so much history and is known around the world!

I made friends with a great group of people, so, all around, this trip definitely met all of my expectations.