Prost to Frühlingsfest!

Christina, Monet, Sally, Liza, and I at Springfest

This past weekend Christina, Sally, Monet, Liza, and I packed up our bags and headed on our last trip of the semester - Munich, Germany for Frühlingsfest. Frühlingsfest is Munich's Springfest, which is basically a smaller version of Oktoberfest because the Germans didn't want to have to wait a full year for Oktoberfest to come again. And now I can see exactly why.


We left Rome at 8:00pm for our 12 hour bus ride to the land of beer and bratwurst. When we were in Austria, about two hours away from Munich, we had a little delay. By this I mean our bus completely broke down at a rest stop. The electric box blew, and we had to wait for two hours at 6am in the Austria morning cold for a new bus to come. Since it was the electric box, we weren't able to close the door so the bus was freezing and, worst of all, we couldn't get our bags out from underneath the bus. After waiting on a new bus to arrive, we boarded that one to continue our trip to Munich. 

Sally, Christina, and I on our bike tour

After a quick hostel breakfast of.... salad (?!??!) we headed out to our bike tour, despite the lack of clothes, jackets, or toothbrushes. 
The bike tour was actually one of my favorite things I've done so far in Europe. After a very struggle-filled start, considering I haven't ridden a bike in at least 6 years, and almost getting hit by 5 or 6 cabs, I absolutely fell IN LOVE with Munich during the tour. I've been to Munich before, but I was in 7th grade and don't really remember much of it. I had no idea that Munich was such a pretty place with so much personality. I could honestly see myself living there eventually. I am absolutely obsessed. We biked around the major sites of Munich, which Christina, Sally, and I were basically just more interested in biking than the sights. Oops. Then we headed to a beer garden for our first Maß (of many) and a german meal. I got a bratwarst with some kind of sauce and french fries. It was delicious, and such a nice change from pasta all the time. 

Surfers

German meal

Rides

Once we finished our beers, we got back on our bikes to continue our bike tour (not sure why this is allowed..?). It started to rain and was freezing outside, so we just stopped at one last stop to see the surfers in Germany. In the park there is a stream where surfers come and can take turns 'surfing' the river. It is actually really cool and so fun to watch..... until you get soaked by one of the surfers in the freezing cold.
After our tour we headed back to our hostel to shower before heading to the actual festival. We got there and I was in awe. It is everything you expect it to be - rides everywhere, beer tents, every kind of carnival food you can imagine, and everyone dressed in traditional bavarian attire. We headed to the beer tent to meet up with our friends, and I knew I wasn't in Rome anymore. It was insane. Everyone of all ages was standing on the tables singing and dancing with their mugs of beer having so much fun.

Christina and I at the beer tent

Inside the beer tent

Christina, Sally, and I found a table and ordered some beer. We ended up meeting up with some of Sally's friends and some of Christina's friends before finding some people from Bus2Alps. The entire night was such an experience considering this is what the Germans love to do. We were experiencing their culture in a way that you can do in very few other places. There were Germans of every age - old, young, everyone. After a long night of dancing and enjoying the festival, we headed back to our hostel to head to bed.

Saturday we got up and met up with Monet and Liza at their hotel before heading back to the festival. We got there around 1pm and all went on one of the rides to start the day off. It was INTENSE, but so much fun! After that we headed to the beer tent for our first beer of the day. After awhile there (and a couple beers), Liza and I decided to wander around and go on some of the rides. We did a water one, then I did two of the ones with more flips, and we did a haunted house. We also got some pizza for late lunch/early dinner before heading back in the tent to find Sally, Monet, and Christina. We spent the rest of the night in the beer tent enjoying the fun atmosphere. At one point Liza and I met this group of Germans and we were dancing at their table... until they told us they were 16. They made a comment about how they love Germany so much because they were able to do that kind of stuff when they were only 16. Ridiculous. I've seriously never seen anything like it. After getting lost multiple times and everyone getting separated in the crowds, Christina and I found each other and headed back to our hostel, not without stopping to get cotton candy and ride go-karts first. 

Dachau

Entrance to Dachau

Crematorium in Dachau

We got up early on Sunday to head to Dachau. I've been before, but it was definitely somewhere I wanted to go back. We got there with only about an hour to explore, so we walked through the museum really quick then explored some of the areas of Dachau. I've been to multiple concentration camps in my lifetime, and I can never fathom what it could've actually been like to be a victim in one of these camps. The pictures are horrifying, as well as seeing the conditions they were living in. I remembered a lot more of Dachau than I expected (considering I didn't remember Munich at all), but I was still just as shocked as the first time to see everything there. It is truly a humbling experience and makes you appreciate everything you have in life. Also seeing the pictures of the ecstatic victims during the liberation by the American troops definitely makes you pretty proud of the USA.

Once we finished walking around Dachau, we headed back into Munich to catch our long bus ride back to Rome. Now it is finals week so we're all spending it studying hard to get those final grades in. I can't believe it's finals already.. and that I go home in 12 days. As sad as I am that this experience is ending, I am happy to be getting back home to my family, my friends, and America.