Germany

Hi again!

Well since I got back from London, I only put my feet up for 11 days before it was time for my visit to Germany! In this time, I finally started classes, had a few parties - this included the 'Kalasmottagning' for all the new students at the uni, a good night, ending in a bike ride home through the forest at 4am, not so easy especially when it's raining, but it was funny! Had a nice dinner as well with a friend from Adelaide one night, then went to my Swedish peer student's place for dinner one night as well, was 3 Swedish and 3 Australians, a nice evening!

Well.... Munich! Took the train to Copenhagen Airport, 3 hours from Linköping, and arrived in Munich Thursday evening. The Oktoberfest didn't begin until Saturday, so I took all of Friday to explore the city and I was really impressed. It's quite a lively city, lots to look at, and a nice park and river on one side of the city. I also loved the German bread, ate plenty of that over the time!!

On Saturday I went to the opening parade of the Oktoberfest. Along with 100,000 other people!! It was crazy!! The beer began flowing at 12 midday, so it was funny to hear all the cheers from the beer tents as they were able to start drinking. I wasn't in a tent, because they are so popular you need to get there really early to get a place. So I just wandered around and looked at all the amusements, lots of roller coasters and other things to do.

After spending the rest of the day around Munich again, I went back to the Oktoberfest at 7pm to meet my friends Christine and Martin from Austria, and their friend Camille. We were lucky enough to get a place at a table in one of the tents, so it was time to get to the real business of Oktoberfest, the beer! It was really hot inside the tent, lots and lots of people, but it was a really good atmosphere there as everyone was singing and dancing along to the band playing in the centre of the tent. Hard to describe the music, sort of like folk music, but it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I was feeling sick from earlier in the week, so I couldn't get through more than one stein of beer and half of my schnitzel. So I had to leave earlier than the others, but still had a fantastic evening!

Sunday was spent trying to recover from my illness, when I eventually felt much better, but in any case I met up with Christine and Martin again in the evening. Christine had lost her voice and I wasn't up for any more beer at that stage, so we just went for a cup of tea, quite a contrast from the day before hehe!

Just when I thought things couldn't get any crazier, I had a few interesting adventures happen at the hostel I was staying at. First, I had to switch rooms in the middle of the night, because they messed up my reservation, so that was a bit annoying. But hey, they gave me a free drink for all the trouble!! Then, on the Sunday evening, it was getting to 9pm and I was still the only person in a 6-bed dorm. I thought it was strange because I expected every place to be filled because of Oktoberfest. Well not long later, in stroll a group of 5 Irish friends who have been drinking all day at the Oktoberfest. So they were quite the rowdy bunch!! At first I was thinking 'get me out of here!', but in the end I had no choice but sit up and talk to them for a while. I ended up helping a couple of them make their beds as well when they went back to the pub later, because I didn't think it was the easiest thing to do in the middle of the night and drunk. Thought it might help keep things quieter for me as well... didn't really matter though, because they managed to come home and keep me awake for 2 hours by running around and being crazy, and then snoring like anything. Was quite an interesting evening, didn't know if I could keep sane, but eventually managed to get to sleep! But hey - guess you have to expect these things in a hostel sometimes, especially during Oktoberfest!!

So after a few hours sleep, I gladly escaped the confines of the hostel room and made my way to Innsbruck, Austria! Only 1.5 hours away on the train, so was there in no time. Was great to catch up with my friend there Stefanie, who I hadn't seen for four years. It was a nice and relaxing day in a city I really like, we just had coffee, went out for lunch, and wandered around. Was funny at the restaurant we went to for lunch, the waiter managed to realise my name, so at any chance he got, was asking "How are you Scott?", "Everything okay with your meal Scott?". Friendly service, but a bit too much!

Later in the afternoon went into the Tyrolean countryside, spending a few hours at Stef's place in the little village of Kolsass, population 1,500. Was nice to see her family again, and I was presented with all sorts of gifts, from Austrian beer and chocolate, to some delicious homemade apricot jam, got my own jar to bring back to Sweden, so that was very exciting!

After a really nice day, made it back to the hostel, and was about to sleep when of course the Irish 5 came home. But they were very apologetic after the previous evening's shenaningans, so they invited me downstairs for a drink, so I thought I may as well. Spent a bit of time chatting with them, turned out they are a great bunch of people when they haven't been drinking so much, so in the end I was really happy to meet them!

Slowly made my way home Tuesday morning, after a very up and down time in southern Germany and Austria. But I had an excellent weekend after all was said and done!! Already looking forward to my next Oktoberfest!!

On my way back to Linköping, spent the day in Copenhagen, where caught up with my local friend there Jeannie, great to see her again after 2 years. Also met with Steph from Adelaide, so the three of us had a really nice day together, before I headed back home in the evening. Eventually got back at 10pm, then it starts all again the next day, a 3-day excursion in the local countryside. No rest at home for the time being - plenty of time for that later!

Next update coming soon!
Scott