Bad and Boozy- Life at Oktoberfest

Let me start off by saying that this blog post will not be completely focused on my trip to Munich, Germany, but I personally thought that the title was quite catchy. Alright now to continue on my writing journey, I left off with a lot of information describing what I've been doing and what trips I've been on since coming to Ireland. I mean of course that is something that is important because it shows you everything I've done, but one of the main reasons why I wanted to write a blog while I was in Ireland was to do two things. The first thing is the obvious and something I just previously mentioned- I wanted to show everyone back home what adventures I was going on while studying abroad. The second reason why I wanted to write a blog, was to actually write down feelings as well, such as if I get homesick, how I like my everyday activities, including my weekend activities, and just to over all act like I would be writing in a journal. I don't want to hold back and I don't want to pretend, if something is upsetting me, it will probably be in a post, but so far I seem to be doing great. Now with that being said, let us get to the juicy stuff.

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Since the last time I blogged, I talked about adventures I went on with my mom while she was visiting, and then all the other places I went to around Ireland with my roommates and newly acquired friends. Going off of that, and getting deeper into detail with my title (in a bit), I have gone on other adventures since my last blog.

To start it off, classes have been going great. During the week, my usual routine is wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, learn as much information I can learn, get back to my dorm, eat some dinner and then do homework, hang out with my roommates, FaceTime family and friends, go to bed and then repeat my day. It is nice to be in a routine again or to even have a routine in general. It is nice because during the week I'm not spending that much money because of my groceries, so I can save all my money for my weekend trips.

The weekend of September 21-23, that is the next weekend I got out of my weekly school routine and adventured. So since that weekend before was the weekend I went to Galway, and the weekend after that would have been the weekend I was going to Munich, I decided to take it easy with travel. Haley and I decided to take a tour bus to Northern Ireland, which the tour took us to the Titanic Museum in Belfast, Giant's Causeway and Carrack-a-Rede Rope Bridge which both are in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The Titanic Museum in Belfast was such a cool thing to experience. It was interesting to see the place that built the actual ship. That is mainly what the museum showed you. For example there is a ride you can take while in the museum and it shows you how the ship was built and the conditions the workers had to go through. There are a few different exhibits throughout the museum and you walk through it and progress through the story, just like the Guinness Storehouse does. I have to admit that once I was done walking through the museum, I was slightly disappointed. I thought that there would be some kind of debris from the ship that was shown off. On the other side of that, there were recordings showing the ship wrecked down deep in the ocean. It was cool to see the little things such as tea cups, clothes, heaters, etc. that were apart of the wreckage. Some of the rails weren't rusted at all so it was very interesting to see what was wrecked and what was still in tact while being miles and miles under water.

As well as videos of the wreckage, you saw the real divide between the classes because there were different rooms that were set up to look like what the different classes would have lived in as well as where they would have dined. There were different photos explaining the maiden voyage as well as different things related to the Titanic, whether it be the difference between myth and reality, different stories told, and many other things. It was a cool place to visit and experience the Titanic first hand.

Now to bring it to a different place that I visited, I continued on my tour and made it to Giant's Causeway. The story behind the making of Giant's causeway is either you believe the science or giant's tale. So pretty much the science tale is that lava caused the rock formations that are now left there. The giant's tale is that there were two different giants; one from Northern Ireland and one from Scotland. Each giant wanted to prove that they were the bigger and better giant and finally they fought because they were throwing rocks at each other's land, and that is how the rocks were formed that way. It was because of the crashing rocks that forced the area to form Giant's Causeway, also hence the name. Me personally I believe the giant's tale because why not? As well as the giant's, there is said to be a lot of luck that Giant's Causeway can bring you. One particular example is there is a specific rock that if you sit on it and then when you stand up, shake your butt three times from the left to the right, then the giant's will grant you good luck. Of course I want good luck and to be on the good side of a giant so I wiggled and shook my butt.

Now finishing up the tour, we got back on the bus and made our way farther along the coast of Northern Ireland to reach the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. It is a rope bridge surrounded by absolutely beautiful scenery. The rope bridge was built so fisherman could go across the wide chasm and 1. not fall, but 2. be able to cast their nets into the waters and catch fish. The bridge has been used since the 1700's. Of course they update the bridge every few years because it isn't used for fisherman anymore, it is a huge tourism spot so they need to make sure it isn't a hazard. It was gorgeous scenery and it was exhilarating walking across the bridge. It was a fun experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to go to Northern Ireland. The only thing I would say is that someone with bad legs should not walk to the bridge, there are a lot of hills, stairs and curvy roads. I do not have the best legs, but it was still a bit of a challenge for me, so I would say it is iffy, but besides that, it was probably one of the prettiest sights I have ever seen.

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Now onto Oktoberfest. It was not really what I was expecting, and of course that is a good thing, at least in my mind. When I have ever heard of someone going to Munich for Oktoberfest, I have heard that it is comprised of these tents and you are fighting to try and find a seat so you can drink beer and shout the entire day. I mean part of that statement is true, in regards to you need to fight for a seat just to drink the entire day, but what I didn't expect was it was practically a carnival. Walking into Oktoberfest was for sure a shock, but through out the experience it was such a fun experience. Haley and I arrived to Munich around 9:30 a.m. on Friday so we got a bus from the airport and went straight to our hostel. Once we were there and were able to put our stuff down, we got lunch and we went to go find Oktoberfest and scope it out. As I said above, once we got there, Haley and I were both shocked, but it was amazing to see. We walked around a bit, of course in awe, but then finally we got some dinner, which I don't recommend where we went, but we made our way back to our hostel. We were so drained from that day and the day before that we took a nap and spent the rest of our day in our room. Leading into the next day, we woke up early, ate breakfast and got to the gates of Oktoberfest by 8 a.m. We met two nice Indian men and us four decided to stay with each other the rest of the day. Once we got into the park, which was around 9:30 a.m., we fought to find a table together and we stayed at that same table, ordering beer after beer, pretzel after pretzel and enjoying our Oktoberfest experience. While sitting at our table, we were next to a few German women and they told us some secrets to Oktoberfest as well as that we came during the "Italian weekend." Apparently all Italians come to Oktoberfest the middle weekend, they get black out drunk, they chug beer and yell 24/7. The German women told us it was normal, but it still bothered some Germans. We stayed inside the tent with all our new friends til around 5 p.m. then Haley and I bid a due to our new friends and we decided to wander outside in the park. I was quite hungry so we stopped at a stand, I got a bratwurst, then we stopped at a sweets stand and we each got chocolate covered fruit. It was a great little snack before dinner. After walking around for a bit, we met some Italian men, which one of them kissed Haley and I on the cheek about 20 times each and one of the friends licked my cheek, so you could say it was a weird encounter. Besides that, we made our way out of the park, walked to a Italian restaurant a block or two away from our hostel called Vapiano's. It was a place that you got to pick the pasta and sauce you wanted and they would make it for you right then and there. After dinner, we went back to our hostel, slept, woke up early for our flight and made our way back to Dublin.

Now you understand why my title is what it is. Bad and boozy perfectly explains the weekend I had in Munich, whether it was beer everywhere or just how fun it was. It was such a great weekend with a lot of different experiences co-insiding the weekend so I will definitely be back. These are the types of trips that I will remember for a life time because I decided to come out of my shell and experience everything the world has to offer me. Germany you stole a piece of my heart and I can't wait for other countries to do the same. I will be writing more of my adventures soon, stay tuned!