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Published: November 28th 2005
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Frauenkirche
Munich's most famous church. Savvy, another MBA from Haas, had a business trip in München, otherwise known as Munich. He of course planned to coincide with Munich’s most famous attraction, Oktoberfest. This legendary tradition all started many centuries ago to celebrate the marriage of Queen Therese. Today the festival still takes place at Theresieweisen, which normally is a park. Oktoberfest is actually a misnomer. Though it started back in the days in October, these days the rational Germans have moved it up to September, when it’s warm enough that no one gets a cold from wearing beer-soaked lederhosen. Personally I think they should rename it Achtung-Bier-Fest (translation: danger, Will Robinson, German beer party) to make it less confusing for the tourists.
Every weekend of Oktoberfest has a different unofficial theme. The weekend Savvy picked is for whatever reason favored by Italians. They actually hire cops from Italy to patrol the grounds during this particular weekend, as the German police have trouble handing the more rowdy Italianos. It really is disrespectful of Italians to party in such a disorganized, irrational fashion. Fun should be planned and structured to ensure efficiency and safety.
My personal journey to Oktoberfest started with waking up at 6:28am. While
Oktoberfest
Me and a bunch of rowdy Italians and Germans. this seems like an awfully early hour to be waking up, it actually was not. My train was scheduled to leave at 6:30am. Being that I live a good fifteen-minute walk from the train station, I started to panic. My seat on the German train was reserved. Given the propensity of Germans and the Dutch for strict adherence to rules, I was sure I was sh!t out of luck. Nonetheless I grabbed my stuff and made it to the train station as soon as I could. When the ticket office opened at 7:00am, I popped in with my plea for help. The agent was calm and actually quite nice. She asked me why I was late. I though for a split second to come up with an unlikely story about how I was held up on the way to the train, but my honesty got the best of me and just blurted out that I overslept. Perhaps honesty is the best policy after all, as she said she would make an exception and gave me a pass for an unreserved seat to Munich. Lucky break! Well mostly. Unfortunately, this was a popular weekend to go to Munich. Aside from a
Miss Oktoberfest 2005?
Talk about a beer belly! few hours sitting in the foggy smoking train cart, I had to sit on the floor by the door. Not that I can complain really. The German trains are, after all, probably the most luxurious in the world. I even met a guy from mainland China who was telling me how he’s being paid Chinese wages while being on a long-term assignment in Germany. Without a credit card or much cash, he really is just scrapping by. I started counting my blessings.
After about 9 hours, two changes of trains, some time spent at the Frankfurt Airport, and beautiful scenery along the Rhein River and of the Bavarian countryside, I made it to Munich. Being able to speak some German made me feel at ease about my first visit to this city, and I was full of enthusiasm as this was my first trip out of Netherlands since I started my semester abroad in Europe. I took the subway to Savvy’s hotel, which was out in the suburbs (he was lucky that his company was able to find a free room via connections, as all rooms in Munich during Oktoberfest get booked quite early on). That evening we took our first trip to see Oktoberfest. In my mind I had imagined a series of tent throughout the city serving vats of beer. In reality, it was all in a fairground with carnival-style rides all over plus beer tents that are really warehouse-sized wooden chalets. Each tent was sponsored by a beer company. Inside the tents were benches with seats for eight. Each bench was fully seated. As it turned out, you needed to reserve the benches way in advance. And without a seat, you could not buy beer. Without beer, it was just a warehouse full of drunken Germans in lederhosen singing German folk songs and American country music (can someone explain why Johnny Cash is popular in Germany? Or David Hassohoff, however you spell it, for that matter). We opted for carnival rides and bumper cars and some unknown-meat sausage.
The next day, while Savvy went to work, I bummed around Munich. The famous city hall was quite nice. I also went shopping for a briefcase. For lunch I had duck breast Thai style. I can eat strange meats, but I need to know what it is first. In the evening we met up for more of Oktoberfest. But once again we could not find a seat at the tables in the beer tents. So for dinner we went to an Indian restaurant recommended by the guidebook. It turned out to be fantastic food, even by Savvy’s Indian standards. The next table over were a few couples with kids. Turns out the kids were born in San Jose. With the dot.com bust exodus, ex-Bay Area residents seem quite easy to find all over the world. In fact there were a few of those at the Rotterdam School of Business, where I am doing my semester abroad.
On Saturday we rented two bikes, and we proceeded to the park near Munich. Strangely, I have never learned to ride a bike successfully. But this time, after taking a very motivating class on personal leadership and with Savvy’s goading, I was determined to learn. The first few attempts, with Savvy pushing me, were frustrating. It felt impossible for me. I asked him to stop pushing. He gave me some advice, and then I shooed him away. Tirelessly, and not minding people staring at me, I learned to ride the bike around the park within about a half-hour! I was exhilarated. This inability had taunted me all my adult life. For some reason, I just never put in the effort to conquer this devil. This was to be my year to fight my fears. Afterwards we had a few beers to celebrate my success. We sat near the train station entrance and watched in amazement the endless flow of people, in various degrees of drunkenness, to and from the Oktoberfest fairgrounds.
On Sunday I saw Savvy off to the airport, and then I took my train back to the Netherlands. In Cologne I missed my train connection (they only give you 10 minutes to switch between trains, and it was on a different platform with lots slow-moving crowds). I had to wait an hour for the next train. So I went for a stroll through the pedestrian shopping street, where I had spent many days when I was on a cultural exchange to Germany one summer during my high school years. It was obviously a nostalgic experience, allowing me to reflect how much I had changed in the more than ten years that had passed since.
I had to ride unreserved during the remainder of the trip. On a Sunday evening, this meant fighting for every scrap of space in the corridor. At various times I was in front of the bathroom door, the train door, and in the smoking compartment. On the local Dutch train, a change of schedule, requiring a switch of train in Gouda, was announced in Dutch. Speaking no Dutch, many passengers, including me, where quite confused. Luckily I ran into a classmate at the business school. On the ride back, Kamel and I talked about the real estate market in Egypt. By the time I was back in my apartment, I had taken six different trains. I had earned my sleep from the trip to Munich.
NOTE: In response to a comment I received, I want to note that German people are actually quite warm and friendly once you get to know them. Germans can seem formal and cordial with strangers, but really it is just a facade. Anyways, it's all generalizations. Take all this with a grain of salt.
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Rick
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Glad to hear you are well
Steven, Glad to hear that you are well and I wanted to take this time to wish you a happy belated Thanksgiving, just to give you a small reminder of home. Your journey's have made me laugh and reflect and it's great that you keep us all filled with a touch of each. Take care and until next time.....God Bless!