#oktoberfest2012

Munich, Germany;

It happens every year—a 16-day festival running from late September to the first weekend in October. 6 million people from around the world come to celebrate this Bavarian tradition that consists mostly of beer, traditional german food, beer, lederhosens and dirndls, more beer...and did I mention beer? 

Coming from German heritage, I've always been involved in any German related festivals and traditions throughout my childhood and growing up. My fathers side of the family is 100% German with ancestors from Stuttgart, so you could imagine my excitement when the realization hit me that I had the opportunity to go to the Oktoberfest, in Munich, Germany. It was too good to be true.

Me and my 3 room mates at the time left early on a Saturday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day. We started our commute that involved several train connections and a lot of time in between those connections. I remember specifically stopping in Memmingen, Germany. We had an hour or two to kill so we walked around the quiet little town until we had to hop on our next connecting train—but first made sure to grab beers for the ride to start our Oktoberfest pre-game extravaganza.

The whole journey to Munich took about 8 hours. When we got to the central station, we all bought lederhosen (for the men) and dirndls (for the ladies). We had to do this the right way if it was possibly the only time to attend such an event. When we got off the last train, we had to somehow get from the train station to our campsite. I don't remember how it happened, but we somehow hitched a ride with a total stranger and boom! We had arrived. We stayed with an organization called Stoke Travel. It was a campsite about 20 minutes from Oktoberfest that had frequent shuttle rides to take you there. When we got there, we threw our bags in our tents, which smelled like piss from the weeks of partying. You can only image how many people slept in those tents, drunk out of their minds. It didn't help that we went on the last weekend of the festival. From there, we scurried over to the outdoor bar to start our shenanigans.  

5 euros got you a plastic cup. That plastic cup got you unlimited beer and beer/wine bongs. Enough said.

We decided to hang out there and drink as much as we could before going to the actual Oktoberfest. We met a group of Australians, along with the bartender who resembled a sexier version of Heath Ledger with tattoos. We nicknamed him Hotty Toddy because his name was Todd. We were peer pressured (not really) by the group into doing wine bongs, beer bongs, umbrella bongs and playing edward-40-hands. I remember having a conversation to them about 'Murica and they taught us how Australians will sometimes refer to Australia as 'Straya. It became a continuous joke throughout the day—and now whenever I think of Australia I automatically get taken back to whole scenario. I can still remember the distinct smell from that campsite. I'm not sure how to explain it—Beer, mixed with sweat and people that haven't showered for days. Something like that. Regardless of the smell, it sure as hell didn't stop us from having the best time of our lives. 

After our campsite pre-game party we hopped on a shuttle bus and off to Oktoberfest we went! The walk from the shuttle to the event was surreal. I never in my life thought I would be attending the world's largest drinking party. We hurried to where everything was happening, and of course by that time it was nearly impossible to get inside one of the beer tents. Apparently you have to get there as early at 9am if you want to get in. Whatever the case, it didn't stop us from at least trying. As the crowd stood out front of the Hofbräuhaus tent, we pushed our way towards the front. We noticed a guy pushing through and being let in because he was a dirndl designer or something crazy. So we all linked hands and tried (emphasis on tried) to follow behind him as close as possible. One or two of us managed to get through past the guards but obviously we wouldn't separate our group over beer. After our epic fail we just decided to walk around, and by that point a few of us had to use the restroom, bad. I think I waited in line for over 20 minutes before I got in. The guys of course had it easy and could walk a little ways away behind a building and have no problem.

After taking in all the excitement and festivities—naked drunk people, the huge laughenbrezels, meeting random people from all over the world—we decided to make our way back to camp to continue the night. When we got back, one of us had a little too much wine bong action and got sick. So he burrowed into his tent as the three of us carried on with the party. All I remember was good music, good company and good beer! It was amazing how many people were there from all over the world. When we would run into Americans, it was like running into an old friend. As the night carried on, the one who passed out and got sick earlier, was once again re-summoned and joined us in what was one of the best parties I've ever been to.

Before I went to Oktoberfest, one of my sorority sisters told me about the plethora of men to drunkenly make out with. She has stayed at a campground, so I of course followed and was not disappointed. I boarded the train that Friday with shaven legs and hopes for foreign hands to touch them.

I got to the campground around 10 p.m. but since everyone had been drinking all day, these folks were past pre-gaming. I didn’t buy my own drink because everyone was happily passing around beer and then at midnight, shots for a Euro!!! Once again, we were allllll ova that. This whole time, we had made friends with a group of Brazilians that we met on our train from Paris to Munich. When we found them again at the campsite, they found more Brazilians! Brazilians like to dance and so do I, we got up on tables and danced to Avicii and Ke$ha like rockstars. When I went to the bathroom with my friend, she told me that she thought the one Brazilian was into me. I was immediately interested as well. He was about a foot taller than me, beautiful white teeth, toned arms and THE HOTTEST ACCENT IN EXISTENCE.  So, on my way out I told him I was leaving and he offered to walk me back to my tent. Turns out, his tent was just two away from mine. We started making out and decided to get inside his tent. Now, I was dressed in two pairs of running pants, a sports bra, and two long sleeve shirts. We were camping, it was cold and rainy and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I had that much confidence in myself to be in a situation where I had to take my clothes off, but I was. And it probably took us a good 3 minutes to undress ourselves separately. But then, oh my dear goodness, I was never to happy for a hookup in my life. He knew what he was doing, his body was cut as fuck and anything he said that night made me swoon, my favorite being, “You. Are. So. Hawt.” Now, I didn’t have sex with him. Hooking up with strangers is still an iffy thing for me, but he walked me to two tents over afterwards and kissed me goodnight.