It Does Not Always Go as Planned…
Location: Munich, Germany
I traveled to Munich with my mind set on one goal: to experience Oktoberfest in all its beer-soaked and German glory. We chose the first weekend – September 20-21st – equipped with only our sense of blind optimism and limited social media research. According to TikTok, we had to be in line by 8 a.m. at the earliest (false), tent camping was the best accommodation for location and comfort (false), and transportation between the campsite and festival site would be simple and easily accessible (most definitely false). Looking back and clearly experiencing some hindsight bias… consulting TikTok might not have been our best decision and was most certainly our first mistake.
We woke up at 7 a.m. at the campsite, thinking that would leave ample time for picking up our pre-rented dirndls and joining the Oktoberfest crowd by 8. The pickup location was a two-minute walk away according to the Google map provided by our dirndl vendor. Yet, after that two-minute walk we were greeted with nothing more than a 10-acre, overgrown grass field and a phone call informing us the actual shop was a 30-minute drive away.
At Lederhosenverlieh – the dirndl shop – all possible sizes in my pre-rented and chosen dirndl had been taken. I was instead given a red, white, and blue cotton number that screamed “God Bless America” even more than my American accent already did. I could have convinced people I was headed to a Fourth of July lake day rather than a Bavarian beer festival.
Eventually we arrived at Oktoberfest around 10 a.m., where the streets were lined with sauna-temperature tents filled with hundreds of people. Walking up and down each tent aisle, not a single seat or table was available. We walked from one tent to the next while trying the food that TikTok claimed was a must. I personally do not enjoy pretzels or bratwurst but “it’s part of the experience.” My bratwurst was undercooked, and schnitzel was overcooked and filled with gristle, so I skipped trying the pretzel figuring that third time was not going to be the charm.
Eventually, we found a tent and sat for two to three hours simply to pass time and justify our financial investment in Oktoberfest. All feeling equally defeated after getting no table, no beer, and no photos, we asked a kind older man to take pictures with his beer. That was the most Oktoberfest thing we did the entire day. After leaving not even ten minutes later, we booked a hotel room that night to avoid the campsite at all costs.
So, what did I leave with? A hotel room reservation and 20 euros in cash that was originally meant for a stein.
…So, You Make the Most of It
Locals: Kufflers Weinzelt
Oktoberfest is a festival, but also a community and a culture – one I believe is overlooked or intentionally dismissed. Once you walk deeper into the venue, passing the main party tents like Hofbräu-Festzelt, you will find the smaller tents, favored and enjoyed by local Germans. This includes Kufflers Weinzelt, a family-run tent since 1984 and that can be found each year at Oktoberfest for two weeks.
After our hours of mishaps and misfortunes that Oktoberfest and specifically the Hofbräu-Festzelt tent brought us, we found ourselves near the back of the festival, past the carnival rides, and outside Kufflers Weinzelt – the last tent in the mile-long festival line-up. Inside, we spotted an open (though technically reserved) table in the center of Kufflers Weinzelt. We sat here for three hours – until the heat became unbearable – before leaving. Despite the table technically being reserved, the staff allowed us to sit until the reservation time, and luckily, they never showed up.
There seems to be a tradition of standing on the benches – not tables – during speeches or songs that are familiar, and this did not stop here in Kufflers Weinzelt. Though we were the only Americans in the tent, were still invited to stand, dance, and sing with the local German groups and families.
We – students around the world – go abroad to study and travel (though maybe not in that order) but we also go abroad to experience the cultures around the world that are so different to that of the States. The U.S. is a melting pot, but what a unique experience it is to travel to places and experience the individual cultures that make the U.S. that melting pot. Kufflers Weinzelt might not have been the most popular, international, English-speaking tent, but we found ourselves truly immersed in the German culture and traditions which made for an unforgettable experience.
DU Abroad 