When you hear people say “Disney is the happiest place on earth”, well they obviously haven’t been to Germany. Never in my life would I have imagined having such a love for this country. In fact the only real knowledge I had on it was that Hitler was once the dictator and no i probably didn’t pay attention to that in history class but instead when I got my first lead role (go little Michaela) in a Jewish play, called Nightlights in the 5th grade. (And no I’m not Jewish people!) BUT funny story…after being in that play I begged my mom to buy minoras for the house and put them out every Christmas for the next 4 years.

Okay anyways about Germany (my roommate thinks I have the attention span of a dog and I’m just proving her more right)… So as I was saying, not once did I think this weekend trip was going to be anything special, in fact I thought Oktoberfest was going to be amazing and Germany was going to be, well…not too exciting. It was quite the opposite actually. 

We got to Germany around 8 am Friday morning (an 10 hour bus ride from Florence…gag) and show up to our new humble abode…a tent the size of my shower, a bunch of homeless-looking Australians, and a giant sign that read “Welcome to Stoketoberfest!”. Kiernan and I decided to camp while our two other roommates Breeden and Caroline were staying hostel. All I could think about was how I had gotten myself into this and how much better the hostile would be. We unpacked our bags and decided to explore the city of Munich the first day here.

We hop on the subway and finally arrive to our stop, riding the escalator up from underground station to the city center, a view slowly starts to appear. I had no words. It looked like my childhood fantasy of a fairytale land. Giant beautiful castle looking buildings, colorful flags and flowers, happy people everywhere you look, AND GIANT PRETZELS. I was the happiest I’ve been while abroad and never wanted the feeling to end.

Kiernan and I picked a little restaraunt for lunch and racked up a good 70€ bill for ourselves. We met two women who were eating next to us that used to study here and they told us all the places to go and see. They were so friendly and we talked for the rest of our time in this restaraunt. When it came time to pay our bill the waiter said it had been taken care of by the two women next to us.

After we left the restaraunt we explored and shopped and to top off the happiness…WE FOUND A STARBUCKS. You better bet your white bum I got myself a pumpkin spice latte. #whitegirlprobs. Sorry NOT sorry. After leaving Starbucks we decided to spontaneously jump on a hop on-hop off double decker tour bus and toured the whole city. I couldn’t even grasp the perfection of Munich. The day was slowly coming to an end so Kiernan and I picked out our dirndls and headed back to campsite.

So about Stoketoberfest…

Basically run by a group of crazy Australians who like to party on another level. For 20€ I had unlimited beer and sangria for the whole weekend and they made it clear they wanted everyone “turnt”. They also had a spin the wheel game going on where they got atleast 50 people in one weekend to get naked and streak through camp. I was sorry I had to see it unexpeditdly. (Sorry mom and dad) (and no I wasn’t a participant dad.) Also, we descoveres a chicken nugget and pizza vending machine that is probably the best thing EVER. You can say it’s gross as much as you want but try it…seriously. But if you want to read more about how the stoke group gets down, visit my friend’s blog ↓

Stoketoberfest by Mel Hampton
6 a.m. thes next morning and it was time to put out dirndls on and get to Oktoberfest. Never have I EVER seen so many people in one place before. We went to the biggest tent and there was barely enough room for two girls. We found our friends and moved to a bigger table once one was cleared and soon after grabbed by a mean German waitress who booted us out of her section because we had bought beers from another waitress. Now I know I said Germany is the happies place on earth BUT the waitresses are the most MISERABLE on earth. They were so mean with all the grabbing and pushing and whistling, I will never forget that. (Although I suppose I’d be the same way if I were a woman in my mid 50’s serving huge steins of beer to young drunks every year) now for me personally one stein was enough for the whole day but people had up to four and more and my arm was tired just from holding the dang thing for an hour. My advice for anyone ever planning on going to Oktoberfest:

1. DO NOT spend over 50€ on a dirndl, you will never wear it again.
2. Get to a tent as early as possible and hold a table for you and your friends. (Better to get there and wait all together)
3. Wear spanks under your dirndl for you will be standing on tables and climbing over people.
4. Don’t get the cheesy pretzel. Period.
5. DO get a bratwurst.
6. Don’t hit anyone with your stein, you will be arrested on the spot for attempted murder. (Thank you to our tour guide Adam for sharing this fact with us)
7. It may be cold outside but it is HOT HOT HOT in the tents so don’t bring a winter coat.
8. Tip your waitress 1-2€ or they won’t come back to your table, or better yet kick you out of it.
9. Don’t go on the rides drunk.
10. DO take a nap on the hill. (You will know the hill)

So there is my Germany/Oktoberfest/Camping journey. Germany you are forever in my heart and one of the most perfect places on this planet, I WILL BE BACK AND ILY.

Check out my mini vlog ↓↓↓

Oktoberfest // Germany Vlog
~Michaela

 

  
  
  
  Seconds before I dropped it ):
  
Waiting for my spot as queen

  

  

Prost!!