This past weekend I embarked on my first travel of the semester! I flew to Munich, Germany ~solo~ where I met some pals, ate good food, wore a cool dress, and successfully navigated a new transport system! All in all, Germany was a great first trip that I was able to do so much in!
Friday, September 29th
My flight was set to take off at 6:35AM, and since it was my first time flying out from Copenhagen I definitley overestimated the time I needed, as I left my apartment at 3:30AM and was at my gate by 4:45AM…Oh well! My flight had a layover in Brussels where I of course got a waffle, charged my phone by peddling on a bike (innovation at its finest!), and boarded my second flight to Munich! I arrived in Munich around 12, where I then took the S train and went to get german food to eat with some girls on my flight! Walking up the stairs from the train platform I was excited to get my first real glimpse of Munich, and what I saw definitley did not disappoint!
After we strolled the streets a bit we arrived at a restaurant called Zum Spöckmeier where I got some classic German Weißwurst (white sausage) and some mashed potatoes! It was super delicious and much needed after the morning travel. We parted ways as I walked to where I was staying to meet my roommate from SJU, Madeline. We went to find a dirndl to wear to Oktoberfest on Saturday, which was super fun to try on and I really hope to be invited to a lot of costume parties in the future so I can wear it over and over again.
That night we met up with some other people from SJU to get dinner, and headed to Hofbrauhaus Brewery which is quite the ‘hot spot’, but luckily we found a table! I tried my first radler, which is a mix of beer and lemonade and surprisingly super tasty. We went to bed fairly early considering the next morning was going to be an early one!
Saturday, September 30th
We left our hotel at 6AM sharp to head to Oktoberfest, where the gates open up at 9AM, but in order to get a table/seats in the popular Hofbräu Tent, you need to be first in line and ready to run once they open up! As we were squished together all ready to go a small old lady was working her way through the crowd to get inside as she was a worker. As the countdown started everyone realized that this women would most definitley be trampled so all of a sudden everyone was yelling for them to stop the countdown and a huge path cleared for her to get through, just a little faith in humanity restored!
Finally though they let us all through and we took off running through the paths to find the tent and were welcomed in by people screaming on tables trying to gather all of their pals to one table. Luckily, Madeline and myself teamed up with a Villanova crowd and were able to grab a spot!
After some time in the tent we headed out into the festival part to see the rides and food stands, all of which reminded me a lot of the good ole Bloomsburg Fair! After a while Madeline and I decided to leave and head to the stadium structure where the Olympics were held in the 70’s in Munich. This whole area was very green and beautiful and we enjoyed walking around in such great weather, especially in our dirndls!
Afterwards we headed back to the room where we decided we would take a quick nap and head back to the festival at night. But, after the most amazing 4 hour sleep session we woke up and decided that was simply not going to happen and went right back to bed!
Sunday, October 1st
On our last day in Munich, we woke up and packed up our things to head to Dachau, the first concentration camp opened in Germany. We took the train and then a very crowded bus which took about an hour and a half but it was SO worth it. We listened to the english audio tour as it took us around the camp which was equal parts stunning and chilling to see and walk through.
Afterwards we took the bus and two trains to the airport where I anxiously awaited my airberlin flight that luckily was only 30 min late, meaning I made my connecting flight in Berlin, and was back home in my bed in Cope by 11:45PM!
The weekend went by so fast and it was super crazy to wake up in Germany and go to sleep in Denmark (still blows my mind!). This trip definitley made me much more confident in traveling in general, which is good considering this Saturday I leave for my first travel week!
