The Best Worst Weekend of Our Lives

Written 4-19-10
It all began Friday morning when Kate and I realized that Alex wasn’t at the train station for our Fashion Marketing field trip to Milan. As we joked that he missed the train, we both dropped our smiles and realized that he actually might have missed the train. Kate called him and sure enough woke him up just as the train pulled out of the station. Oops! He has too many absences to miss the field trip. Consequences: Failure. He better get to Milan for his sake! This was only the beginning, but since there is so much to say about Munich, Germany, let me paraphrase Milan. Kate and I laughed hysterically all day about Alex’s situation. The field trip was very unorganized and basically an excuse to shop/see flagship stores for incredible designers like Armani, D&G, Gucci, Marc by Marc Jacobs and more. We were supposed to take notes about store layouts and whatnot, but Fiona, our teacher, was only with us for about 30 minutes the entire day. Alex arrived in Milan at 15:30 for a field trip that was over at 16:00. Bummer for him, but absolutely hysterical for us! We snapped some pics in Milan (which has a cool Galleria and Duomo), and went to the train station for our train to Verona. Alex was only in Milan for about 3 hours. Haha. I won’t go through all the details of the trip that went wrong, but let’s just say Kate and I made a list of 100 reasons why the trip went south without hesitation but laughing the whole way through. BUT it was the best trip I have taken in Europe, and I had more fun this weekend than I have had anywhere.

We arrived on an overnight train into Munich at 6:30am after a restless night seated in an uncomfortable chair with people in our cabin who were less than accommodating. When we finally found our hotel after wandering around and having to stop to get directions from a different hotel, we were denied at check-in because it was too early. TOO EARLY? We hadn’t slept all night, and we just wanted a place to crash. I wouldn’t have cleaned the rooms at that point. Regardless of our desperation, we walked away and ate at a café close by. Thirty minutes later, still unable to check-in, we returned to Hotel Orly and crashed on the lobby couches. Two hours later we were woken up by the disgruntled desk staff letting us know our room was ready. Hallelujah! After a night without sleep, we were still down for napping. Two in the afternoon rolled around, and we figured it was time to go experience Munich. We can sleep when we’re dead, but we can only experience Fruhlingsfest in Munich. Fruhlingsfest, or Spring Fest, is a two-week event with over 100 carnival rides, great German food, and beer tents. About 650,000 come every year to this mini-Oktoberfest hosted in the center of Munich. The Augustiner tent, where most of our time was spent, holds over 2,000 people. It gets poppin’ early in the afternoon with German folk music and a German rock band plays into the night. Both bands were sure to play some American classics, which really had the crowd going. I was very surprised that so many Germans wore traditional German attire to Fruhlingsfest. The men wear Lederhosen and the women Dirndl. They can best be described as yodeling outfits, though that’s not their true purpose.
Saturday was spent frolicking around the festival, eating brats and pretzels, and hanging out with friends from Florence and loads of new German friends including Ed Hardy, Jr. and “Joe and Phillip”. They were all characters to say the least. German people are extremely friendly though. Germany might be the most hospitable country I have been too. They are very efficient and methodical in everything they do, but they are so accepting and all speak at least a little English—thank goodness! I think previous to this weekend, I had a very tainted view of modern Germany. I imagined fairly gloomy country stuck in the Nazi era. I obviously knew better, but Hitler ruined Germany’s reputation so severely that I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to visit Germany for Fruhlingsfest, but I didn’t really have a desire to visit the country itself. However, it might be one of my favorite countries I have been too. They have amazing hearty food, Subway stores, nice people, beautiful country side, and so much rich history.

We got a late start Sunday morning, almost missed our free breakfast, missed a free walking tour, and checked out after noon. We had no idea where we wer supposed to stay Sunday night, so we ventured to an internet café that was an experience in itself. The person in charged looked about 15 years old and exactly like a live version of a Furby (without the fur). I couldn’t help but laugh when he said, “Hallo.” I might feel worse about that if he was helpful, but he was too interested in his internet gaming world to give a hoot about any customers. We finally figure out how to get a computer to work, and find out our flight for Monday morning is cancelled. One more thing to add to the list. I don’t know how publicized it is in the US right now, but a volcano is erupting in Iceland, and the volcanic ash is floating over Europe causing most flights in Europe to be cancelled. Everyone is getting stuck all over Europe, and the trains are PACKED! We were cluseless as to how to get home, but we got directions to our hostel, ate Subway, which is unheard of in Italy, and were on our way without a worry in the world. After checking in a realizing that we’ve got to find a way back we weighed our options. 1. Rent a car and risk our lives on the road with crazy European drivers (which was my preference). 2. Look for an Italian night train for Monday to arrive Tuesday for class. 3. Go to the station and try to get a train ticket on German rail. 4. Take a train to Austria and try to fly home from Salzburg. All options are questionable and pricier than our cheap-o cancelled flight, but we got a refund! We settled on a German train and got a ticket for a decent price back to Italy. After securing a general ticket, we made the best of the rest of our time in Munich. We gave ourselves a walking tour of the city and saw the Glockenspiel clock tower, also known as the biggest coo-coo clock in the world. We also stumbled upon the coolest BMW dealership ever--compete with free candy and a digital surround sound room. Next we visited the Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s most famous beer hall, which seat over 2,600 people. We enjoyed traditional German sausages and pretzels complete with an authentic Bavarian band for entertainment.

We went back to the hostel after exploring the city and made many international friends including Irish, German, Australians, and Kiwis. Our plans to go to bed early didn’t quite work out. Hostels are such cool places to meet people because there are so many people from so many place and so many diverse backgrounds. It may sound extreme and even a little nerdy, but I learn so much from the people I meet in hostels mainly about culture but also history about different countries. It’s so much fun to kick it with people from all over and learn about what is normal to them and what they think about America in general. I have grown to love America more while being abroad. I have always been patriotic, but America is so iconic. Yes, our economy may suck but so does the economy of so many other countries. Though sometimes Americans are arrogant and oblivious to other cultures, we can be because America is just that great. I’m not sayng that we shouldn’t be educated on other coutries and their economies because everyone should have some global perspective, but no other country affects the world like America does. It always surprises me when foreigners know so much about our politics and culture, but it’s because we affect their economy is major ways. Though their perceptions of the American culture are often skewed, they know something as opposed to most Americans who know nothing but America. It’s a really cool thing to be from the States, and I am proud of it.

Today, Monday, we woke up and head straight to the train. Aside from not having seat assignments and moving around quite a bit during the 8 hour ride, it has been a fairly uneventful day. I tried to catch some shut eye, but the landscape through Germany, Austria and Italy is absolutely extraordinary. Though the flight would have been more efficient and gotten me back for classes, the train ride is fairly enjoyable and gives me time to catch y’all up on my travels. I didn’t even begin to touch on all the things that went wrong this weekend because they’re mostly “You had to be there” situations, but it was a successful weekend nonetheless. We started off with a “whatever” attitude, and that’s what got Kate, Alex and I though this weekend laughing. It’s been the best worst weekend of my life. Granted, so much more could have gone wrong, but I’m glad I’m traveling with people who can laugh it all off. Once again, it’s all about the people you travel with. I am blessed to have great travel buds.
I am almost home to Firenze, and Eve, my computer, is dying. I hope you all had as awesome of a weekend as I did (or not depending on how you interpret that). Love and miss you all! See you in a month!
Ciao from a train somewhere between Austria and Bologna, Italy!