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A Weekend of Experiences

Published on by showtimeherink2Leave a comment
Salzburg

I must apologize. I was unable to post a blog last week due to traveling, but now, I will recap all in this post. A little bit of context for this trip: I was noit supposed to go to Oktoberfest, but a wekk before this trip, one of my friends asked if I would like to go with him Austria and Munich, with the Munich trip being solely about Oktoberfest. I accepted and was able to embark on the journye of a lifetime.

Last Thursday, me and Andrew left Maastricht to go to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend. Getting to Salzburg was chaotic. First, I tried to ride my bike with my suitcase (first by dragging it with me and then with it in my basket). However, both attempts failed miserably and I ended up having to rush call an Uber to the train station. I did get to the train station on time and met Andrew there. We boarded our first train to Aachen where we were due to make a transfer that would take us to Cologne. We almost did not make that connecting train because our train to Aachen was delayed. There were a bunch of law enforcement people on our train looking for something. They asked for our passports and asked if we were carrying any drugs with us. After we said no and they searched our bags to confirm the truth, they continued searching the train. We ended up having to run to our train so we didn’t miss it (we made it thankfully). We had about 30 minutes to kill after arriving in Cologne so we went and saw the Cologne cathedral, which was right outside the station. It was one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen and I wish I could show it here. After the cathedral, we boarded the high speed train to Munich. It was an overnight train so we were expected to sleep. However, that was not the case for me. It was hard to sleep; the chairs were uncomfortable, the cabin lights were not dimmed, and it was freezing cold. Plus, my water bottle leaked in my bag and got everything soaked, including my passport. That is why I do not recommend taking an overnight train.

We arrived in Munich before 7 am and then boarded a train to Salzburg. That was where I got my only sleep of the night, which was about two hours. Once we got to Salzburg, we dropped our things off at our hostel and headed into the city to explore. We walked around for a few hours before heading off to find hiking trails. The first took us to a fortress atop the city and we got to experience amazing views of the city and the mountains. The second hike we did took us to a hotel that overlooked the mountains. We ended up sitting i. chairs at the summit and took an hour long nap in the sun. It really felt like I was in Colorado; the mountains and scenery made it feel like a piece of Colorado in Austria. The second day we took a bus to a lake about an hour outside of Salzburg. There, we hiked about 3 miles to a mountain lake, where Andrew jumped into the water (I did not partake). We the hiked back down the mountain after having lunch and ended the day walking around the lake at the bottom of the mountain. In terms of food in Austria, the primary thing I ate was German spatzle, a type of pasta that was very suitable for me considering I am a vegetarian (it is very good).

We left Salzburg in Sunday morning and made our way to Munich for Oktoberfest. I had to rent a lederhosen because the two that I attempted to order were both canceled. I ended up renting an authentic lederhosen for two days and it was quite nice. After checking into our hotel, we made our way to Oktoberfest. The venue was packed and our focus was finding a table inside of a beer tent to sit at. After trying two tents, we were unable to find a table where we could sit. But, you what they says, third times the charm. We finally found a table in beer tent number 3 of the day and settled in. Let me tell you, German beer is different. It is much more fresh than American beer and it tastes so good. The beer comes in liters and I ended up drinking about 2.5 liters of beer that day. I also ate a pretzel, vegan burger, and a heart-shaped cookie medal that was wrapped around my neck for most of the day. I’m glad I stopped at 2.5 beers because if I would have drank more, I would have ended up like Andrew. Andrew had about 4 liters of beer and he was extremely drunk. I had to aid him in walking home and me being drunk as well, there was a lot of stumbling going on. We did make it home safely, but after that, we did not drink anymore. We spend our Monday at Oktoberfest walking around and eating food before spending the rest of the day exploring downtown Munich. We took the train back Tuesday morning and got back to Maastricht Tuesday evening. After an eventful weekend, I was tired, but I had to focus on a midterm so I could not rest yet.

Overall, Salzburg and Oktoberfest were experiences of a lifetime. Experiencing something as beautiful as Salzburg and something as crazy as Oktoberfest definetly were not on my bucket list. I still have to balance school with traveling (as I said with having a midterm at the end of the previous paragraph), but I am in Euorpe and I do not know if I will have another experience like this. This is an experience of a life time and I need to take every moment of it to explore (while also focusing on academics of course).

"Oktoberfest"

I Survived Oktoberfest and Week One of Classes

Published on by Elsie BuczkowskiLeave a comment

 Oktoberfest

This was a whirlwind of a weekend. It started Friday afternoon on my tube ride to the airport. I have found it very easy to navigate the underground in the city with my friends, so I was only a bit nervous about taking the train to the airport alone. It was very simple. Three stops on the Bakerloo line, then transfer to the Elizabeth line at Paddington station for seven more. I was so content on the Elizabeth line — it wasn’t crowded, I was pacing well on time, I was excited to get an airport snack, and above all, I was so excited to see all my friends I had missed so much. I was two train stops from the airport when I reached for my chapstick in my small bag and realised my passport wasn’t there. My stomach dropped. I remembered that as I did a scan of the dorm room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, the maintenance man was fixing my broken heater and was blocking my view of where my passport sat. 

I immediately got off the train, walked to the street and ordered an Uber back to my dorm. I calculated the time it would take to Uber there and back and thankfully I could pace to make it 30 minutes before boarding started. I was so frazzled I was shaking. I had no more room for error and worse, no time for an airport snack. 😦 I asked my Uber driver if he thought I could make it and he reassured me that I would be just fine. I still didn’t feel better though, just because I was so disappointed in myself. 

I made my way through security smoothly, until my bag had to be double-checked by a security agent. Of course. Once that was resolved, I was delighted to find out my flight had been delayed and I had time for an airport snack! I got a mango. It was so delicious. 

I felt insurmountable relief when I stepped out of the taxi and was finally able to hug my friends and lie down. That evening, we got dinner and went to a rowdy pub near our hotel. It was so nice to spend time with people that felt like home. 

Saturday was the opening day of Oktoberfest. The crowds were insane. I hadn’t got my dirndl yet, so I had to quickly get one in the morning before we went into the festival. This was not an easy task. Walking to the store, the roads were roped off for a parade and there were masses of people on the sidewalk. Max and I had to weave through the crowds with our big weekend backpacks. Once at the store, I was running around like a crazy person because I had no idea what size I was or how to assemble the full outfit. I forgot to get a ribbon for the front and an apron so I looked a bit silly. 

We changed at our hostel and then made our way to the Oktoberfest grounds to meet the rest of our friends. There were masses of people lined up to get into the festival. Max and I got so lucky, we didn’t have to wait in line. We were following people to the end of the line when we turned to the left and saw that security had opened another gate. We squeezed right on through. 

We found our group of friends outside the Hofbrau house tent. The beers were flowing and we had a great time talking, laughing and making friends with the people at neighbouring tables. Everyone I encountered at the festival was so joyous and friendly. 

I’ve noticed that I only take pictures of my friends, not anything else. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of the fairgrounds or the scenes inside the tents. I need to be better at capturing my surroundings and not just the people I’m with. 

I woke up on Sunday with a cold. I was bound to get sick at some point, and being around such huge crowds did not help my chances of staying in perfect health. I walked 15 minutes to a pharmacy to get some type of cough medicine to help me feel better for the big day we had planned. I stared at all the German products for much longer than I should have while I worked up the courage to ask the woman working what I should get. She hooked me up with some gross cough syrup. This was my first experience where I could not speak the language and needed help from a local. Like everyone I met in Germany, she was very kind and spoke great English. There was no need to be scared to ask for help. 

The second day was great because we snagged spots inside two different tents throughout the day, not outside in the heat. We made more friends, stood on the tables and cheered for the band. 

Journey Home to London and Homesickness

My trip back home to my dorm in London on Monday morning was much smoother than my trip to Munich, except for the pit of loneliness in my stomach. Solo travel is hard. There is no one immediate that you can rely on to double-check you are doing things correctly. If you want help, you have to ask strangers. This can be super intimidating in general but especially in a foreign country. 

I successfully navigated the tube from Heathrow back to my dorm in Marylebone expecting to feel completely relieved and relaxed after my morning of travel. I felt nothing of the sort. After only six days in London, I have not been able to feel fully comfortable like it’s my home. It was a really sad feeling, leaving all the people who feel like home only to return to my actual home which was still cold and strange to me. 

I’m so lucky to have Sydney here with me. The same Monday I got home and was feeling super lonely, she invited me to see an indie film at a unique theatre. After the movie, we went across the street to a cheap pub and talked about how we might feel scared at the moment, but said we were confident that we are going to get the hang of things here. Above all, we are lucky to have each other and we know that we are not completely alone. 

First Week of Classes

My first class was on Monday afternoon. It is just an intro to sociology course, I anticipate having an easy time getting through it. I met some girls from London in my seminar and we talked for a while about all the different American fast foods they want to try, and they gave me recommendations for the fast food that’s here, but not in the U.S. Nandos review incoming!

My second class was on Tuesday and is the course that goes along with my Internship. It’s about building skills to have in the professional workplace. I anticipated that it was going to be kind of a useless class, but it helped me a lot with problems that I encountered in my internship this week. After class, I was able to fit some fun in by going to a Chelsea game. I have never experienced anything like it before. I got to see two premier league goals on the attack side with my own eyes. We were so close you could smell the grass. 

My third and final class was on Thursday, Photography in London. I’m excited to see all the field trips that are planned for this quarter. Overall, I am really, really proud of myself for making it through this difficult week. The best is yet to come!