Meag: While we were getting ready to go this morning, we talked with our roommates. They said they went to Oktoberfest yesterday and were supposed to leave today but they lost their third friend the previous afternoon in the festival, and they were still waiting for him to come back. They gave us some great tips but their biggest tip was DON’T LOSE EACH OTHER. Noted!

The closer we got to the grounds, the more people there were in lederhosen and dresses…I didn’t realize that everyone actually dressed up like this! I thought it would be just the tourists. But no, it was all the Germans, young and old.

The Oktoberfest grounds were huge! There were so many things were happening all at once. But the first order of business was food. What does one get on the first day in Germany? Why, pretzels of course! Giant pretzels! Washed down with a beer in our first beer tent of the day, once we had checked out the grounds a bit.

Sav: it was all insanity! People everywhere were laughing and drinking and waiting for rides it was wonderful. In our first tent we drank raddlers (beer mixed with lemonade) with our new friends Marty and Kevin, who are studying in Budapest and gave us some wonderful tips for when we get there.

After this I managed to convince Meags to ride the giant ride that takes you up really really high and then drops you down super quick! It was such a struggle but after much guilt tripping and pressure from me she did it- turns out she actually quite liked it!!

M: I did! I’m not one to give-in very easily but somehow she managed to convince me and get my butt on the ride. We just kept getting higher and higher and higher…the view was great from the top! Then there was a count down, which was THE WORST. After a half-second of pure terror the rest was fun.

S: Post-rides we tried some more German food and then went into what is known as the party tent and met some really fun German people (shout out to Sven!) who spent the next few hours drinking and singing and celebrating with us. Meags and I kept looking at each other in bewilderment at the fact that we really were having beers at Oktoberfest in Germany with incredibly fun people. How lucky are we?

S&M

P.S. Our roommates did find their third friend…turns out he was in the hospital, but he says he’s fine!