Oktoberfest or "Eins! Zwei! Drei! Schufa!"

The Oktoberfest, my god, what more needs to be said?



First maybe a lil history. "The original "Oktoberfest" occurred in Munich, on October 18, 1810: For the commemoration of their marriage, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds) organized a great horse race (the marriage took place on October 12; the horse race on October 17 — therefore, there are different dates named as being the first Oktoberfest)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest



Nowadays, people still come in traditional dress that being lederhosen for the duders and dirndl for the ladies, but the fest has changed from its somewhat humble beginnings of horse races into the Mecca for anyone who likes to drink beer (and drink and drink). The fairgrounds are humongous, absolutely titanic.



It is an amusement park, concert hall, county fair, and the craziest party put into a wooden keg and distilled into a delicious mixture of Bavarian culture, international support and good ole fashioned "kick ass" good times.



My personal adventure began at about noon time on Friday. My comrades and I left our hostel in good spirits, for we were in Munich mere minutes from the Oktoberfest. We actually did not know which way the 'Fest was but we all in agreement on how to get there; Follow the

Lederhosen!



We wandered into the one of the first tents (beer gardens is the translation from german) we saw which happened to be the Paulaner tent. After walking around the inside of the massive structure in pure awe as we beheld beer wenches carrying any where from 5 to 13 steins at once or bringing out delectable looking dishes that made the mouth water we found a table to sit in a type of corner about 75 feet from the center and the "ompah" bandstand.



Now if you are sitting down at a table there is no need to order beer. The maids bring them out pretty much automatically. Obviously we were delivered Paulaner b/c each tent drives its name from beer it serves and which in turn is the name of the family who brews that particular batch of golden hops.



The music, the music , the music! The bands play the best old timey german music and everyone in the tent knows the words. Everyone sings, everyone drinks. Repeat. One of the most interesting bits of information however is the songs the people like sing when the band is not playing. "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes is a ubiquitous tent favorite as is Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby!" (lyrics @ end of post). I do need to qualify this statement a bit. The mob only chants and clap their hands to the beat of the bass lick of "7 Naiton Army", Dun da dun dun dun duunn, and only sing the chorus to "Hey! Baby!" Either way they both bring the tent down!



Let us fastforward to Saturday. We got up at 7 am to a brisk german morning with a cool breeze in our hair and hope in our hearts. We made it to the Haufbrau tent around 8 and we were in the very front of the line, WOOT! It was a good thing we got there so early b/c soon mobs of people were lining up getting ready for a hardy day @ the 'Fest.

Let me set the scene more completely. The "line" is a gross misappropriation of what we standing in, that is, it was more like a mob with no real organization. It was about 15 people wide and spreading out to about a 1000 or so people behind us. A thing strip of plastic caution tape esque was all that was holding the mob back from the actually building itself was about another 20 feet in front of us. You could say we were on the front porch waiting to be let into the beer garden. At around 9ish the tape fell and we rushed forward; a landslide of humans. Now we were standing in front of the doors. Crushed by the people behind us, screamed at in german by the police in front us and we in the middle we just trying to breathe. We got past the bottle neck and found a table with some nice german kids our age.

The germans were nice and spoke english two + in my book. They befriended us, took us under their wing to guide us in the protocols of the 'Fest. First, they offered me and my bros some tobacco snuf. It took a lil peer pressure but our new friends convinced me to take a sniff. Daniel had a small container about the size of a lighter and when he tapped the end a small puff about the size of the end of a pencil eraser came to rest on the back of my hand. It was surprisingly good to the nostril, a type of wasbai. My nose felt thoroughly cleansed, i was breathing freely and my brain felt incredibly awake. Not bad but im never gonna do it again.

Finally the beer came. The germans taught some key phrases like "riddermot" ( i have no idea how the germans actually spell it, more of a phonetic spellin) which means "drink it", "Prost!"~ Cheers~ and "mosk" which is the Bavarian for the beer stein. They explained that when you make a cheers in german you have to look in the other person's eye's or you will be cursed with 7 years of bad sex!


When I asked Daniel why they liked 7 nation army so much as a drinkin beat as it were he replied, " It is easy to sing and we like the beat. You can sing it if you're drunk or sober." Hell i never thought it was going to be that easy. Dan continued. "The music makes Oktoberfest." How true.

I saw what u mean about an hour later. By this time the tent was full, 6,000 give or take, and everyone finally had a beer. On the far side i heard the quite beginning of the 7NA. Slowly, everyone picked up the chant. Steins were raised in reply to the chant and in a moment of awe i saw 6,000 steins one after the other raise like a tidal wave and crash into me at the speed of the slow beat of 7NA. I was drowned in good feeling for me new found friends and we put our arms around each other and began to sing. Grand, grand, such a wonderful feeling.

I got some souvenirs, rode a roller coaster and ate some great german food (which included a 6 inch piece of raw fish on roll with some coslaw) and made some friends. All in all not the worst time ive ever had.

Lyrics, they only sing: Hey, hey hey baby! I want to know if you'll be my girl Hey, hey hey baby! I want to know if you'll be my girl

They dont sing any lyrics for 7NA.

Diary entry

So what happened to the 300 + days of sunshine i was promised back at orientation? They have been flooded by copious amounts of rain and covered up by clouds. The weather actually reminds of how it is back in colorado but my host mom it hardly ever rains; this is hard to believe since it has rained like 5 days out of the past week and a half but ill take her on faith. I forgot that my bus does not run on sundays and its really not a big deal b/c my legs have grown stronger and i can hoof my way back in about 15 mins these days. The only problem will be when moses' flood pays aix a lil visit. i was waiting for my bus when the simaltaneous realizations hit me (1) my bus does not run on sundays (2) its raining like a thunderstorm underwater. I decided i was not going to wait it out (mistake). By the time i got to my door i was past drenched i was a freakin merman. My shoes are still drying on my window sil as i type this.

Just keep piling it on. My camera is a having a lense malfunction. I think some crumbs got into the mechanism from a pocket in my camel. !!!!! i wont go on further its an easy fix supposedly i just need to find a store. we will see.

However, my room a ocktoberfest has just been upgraded to a suite and will be given to us free of charge b/c the hostel has overbooked hence~~~>ME~~~>STOKED~~~~>the best things are free...and at ocktoberfest.

I said something at diner last night and my family cracked up for almost 5 mins straight i kid you not. I believe i said, "i study psychology at school." This was pertainent to the conversation, but why this was so funny i cant fathom. Im positive they were not laughing at me but i was not laughing so they were not laughin with me either. Bof!

Day Tripper

Fuck yeah for field trips. School took everyone to Nice and Cassis on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Nice was really classy. They have high rolling casinos and a beach that runs forever. My clique of friends went swimming first. The water was cold but quite refreshing. it is so clear you can see straight to the bottom. I have never seen water so clear except in Hawaii. Next we shot a sexy photo shoot on a rock outcropping (photos coming soon) It was really just plain silly. Next we hiked up to hill where there used to a fort, today it is a restaurant with a water fall cascading down the side of the hill. After snapping some post card esq photos from the tall vantage point we moseyed down into town. We looked at two churches! Freakin' beautiful. Mosaics, stained glass and old paintings . . . i was content.

Cassis is a gem, nothing else needs to be said. In Cassis natural fjords are called calanques (from the Corsican word of preindoeuropean origin calanca (plural calanche) with meaning "inlet"; is a geologic formation in the form of a deep valley with steep sides, typically of limestone, in part submerged by the sea. It can be considered a Mediterranean fjord.)
We hiked about 3 miles away from the main beach b/c it was too crowded, what a fated decision. We found a less crowded beach at the end of a calaque and we made camp. B/c of the natural calanque formation there are great cliff on either side of the inlet. We wanted to jump off of them. And we did. We started small only about a 8 foot cliff, exhilarating. You have to jump pretty far away from the sides so you dont smack the rock that loom under the water, we jumped out hard , we did not want any hospital visits.

The ante needed to be raised and was by an extrovert, O'Neil (first name weird enough), he scouted a some cliffs about 12 feet high and we went after them. By the time we got to our spot a french couple in their yacht were floating near by enjoying some wine and watching the kids play in the calanque. they brought our attention to a spot about 25 to 30 feet high. "Ahh ground control we are gonna make a lil change in our flight plans."

Our captain O'Neil dove out first and gave me some encouragement from the water, "Dude just do it!" Shit yeah. I shredded the cliff gnar and jumped down into the cool water a cool 25 feet below.

"GERONIMO!!!"

Mon Velo

Ive got a bike! yeah im totally rockin the suburbs and shreddin the concrete gnar here. I was sorta scared at first b.c the bikers all ride in the street with the cars but after the first day i got over it. I love ridin my bike back and forth from school bc instead of a 30-40 min walk its now like a 15-20 min bike ride. Going around les rotondes (round abouts) is crazy, you have busses and cars flying by but no one honks at the bikers. I guess it is just expected. i keep takin a different way home to see if i can find the fastest route, and by that i mean i keep getting lost. Its okay though the city is not that big and with the help of my handy dandy map i keep finding my way home.



I like to listen to Pink Floyd's Bike and Queen's Bicycle Race while riding, duh. Lyrics are below:



I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings And things to make it look good. I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it. You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world. I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.I've got a cloak it's a bit of a joke. There's a tear up the front. It's red and black. I've had it for months. If you think it could look good, then I guess it should. You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world. I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.I know a mouse, and he hasn't got a house. I don't know why I call him Gerald. He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse. You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world. I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.I've got a clan of gingerbread men. Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men. Take a couple if you wish. They're on the dish. You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world. I'll give you anything, everything if you want things.I know a room full of musical tunes. Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork. Let's go into the other room and make them work.



Bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like You say black I say white You say bark I say bite You say shark I say hey man Jaws was never my scen eAnd I don't like Star Wars You say Rolls I say Royce You say God give me a choice You say Lord I say Christ I don't believe in Peter Pan Frankenstein or Superman All I wanna do is Bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my Bicycle races are coming your way So forget all your duties oh yeah Fat bottomed girls they'll be riding today So look out for those beauties oh yeah On your marks get set go! Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race Bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle bicycle Bicycle bicycle bicycle Bicycle raceYou say coke I say caine You say John I say Wayne Hot dog I say cool it man I don't wanna be the President of America You say smile I say cheese Cartier I say please Income tax I say Jesus I don't wanna be a candidate for Vietnam or Watergate Cause all I wanna do is Bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like.

Diary entry

My host mother is incredable. Show gave me a bike so I can get to and from school easily. Its an old school mountain bike and it has about 15 gears, not bad. She is a great cook like I said before. The food is always hearty and healthy, yesterday we had a good dish that was just basically scalloped potatoes with a french twist, it was very good and filling. Tonight, there was stuffed tomatoes with some rice, excellent. Her son also lives here his name is Lorenzo and is a nice man. I do not see him expext at for a while at night because he gets up at five for work.

I began my classes today with meant that we had to listen to a lot of syallabus review really crazy boring stuff. Im excited though, I'll be taking French, 19th impressionism art, psychology, and European cities thru film and lit. They all should be great Im pretty stoked.

France; something different

Bonjour,

After working out my Wi-fi problems, in French mind you, I finally have a connection to the internet. Woot!

My flights were typical. The only thing to really complain about was being sat next to a fatty on my transatlantic flight, and oh yeah my light would go on and off randomly that was really nice when I was trying to get some shut eye.

En France I caught the highspeed train, TGV, to Aix-en-Provence where my host mother picked me up. She is extremely nice,speaks little English, and is a fabulous cook. So far so good. I toured the town a bit on foot. It is a quintessential French town with fountains, roundabouts, men playing the accordion and cafes are ubiquitous. I wandered around to the local cathedral. It is a work of art to say the least. There was a festival going on today. Frenchmen were dressing up like it was the 17th siecle and playing marching music to boot. Much fun.

An old church was metamorphosed into the current learning institution it is today. It is small and cozy. I feel that most of my classes will be quite intimate.

I'm actually excited for classes to begin