When I
told my parents that I was going to Oktoberfest they weren’t particularly happy
about my travel choices. “Are you just going to drink beer the whole weekend?”
Well it actually turns out that I not only did participate in the festivities,
but also had the biggest learning experience so far in my time in Europe. So
here it is:
1) Everything that can go wrong will go wrong
There is
no better example of this than train rides. Whenever you have a very short
period of time between trains, the first train will be late. This is Murphy's
Law, this is the universe choosing you as the victim of the day. When this does
happen, you can react by: a) freaking out or b) looking for a solution.
Of
course this would happen to me not once but twice in this trip. The first time
around my train from Florence to Bologna was late making me miss my train from
Bologna
to Munich. I first chose option a. as my immediate reaction, but later decided
that freaking out wasn't going to take me to infinite beers weekend. Fixing a
solution was clearly necessary, and achieved since I actually got to my
destination. The universe smiled on me once again!
2) Saying please and thank you makes the greater difference
Two
girls that were studying in Florence had also missed their train, and their
lack of Italian made them gravitate towards me. We decided to talk to the
ticket desk of the train station to see if they could help us. Since these
girls were still in stage a. of their reaction, their interactions with the
Italian woman working the counter wasn't ideal. They didn't say “bongiorno,
scusi,” or make the slightest effort to show simple manners. This woman was not
happy with them. I pushed them aside, excused the lack of manners that these
girls had, and asked nicely if they could help us get to our final destination.
The problem got fixed in less than 10 minutes.
Fast
forward to actual Oktoberfest. Manners are even more important when more than
5,000 people are asking for beer and food at the same time. Being rude to a
small German woman who is carrying more than 100 liters of beer is obviously
not going to get you anywhere. Put your self in her shoes and a dirndl (that’s the name of the classic
and cute Bavarian dress the women wear). Not the ideal job, that’s for sure.
Making the effort to say danke schoen
goes a very long way (our table always got their beer and food first for a
reason)
The madness of Oktoberfest
3) Karma is real
Once we
were all in the train to Munich, we sat down in the very uncomfortable section
of the train. The person who checked our ticket told us that we had to find
empty seats in the back. I told the girls that I was going to move, but they
said that we should just sit in the dining car. I personally wasn't down to sit
at a dining table for seven hours. "Well we don't really need you now that
we are on the right train, so we can split" Those impeccable manners once
again. My good karma had really accumulated by this point and in my search for
a seat I found a whole cabin with big seats for myself. I hope the dining car
was comfortable, girls.
This
good karma actually kept following me around for the rest of the trip,
especially once I was in the tents. Since my phone mysteriously stopped working
the second day I was in Germany (see lesson number one), I was sure that I was
never going to find Tim. After searching for about 10 minutes in a tent full of
people, there he was in his full mustache glory. I might never be so happy to
see him again. Clearly the universe smiled on me, and it was wonderful.
My
happiness is evident after I found Tim
4) C'est la vie/ That’s Life/ Asi es la
vida
Not to
be corny, but this life lesson is really just saying that life is too short to
be bothered about the little things. Very small things always bother me. For
example, I hate it when my white Converses get dirty. (I know how crazy that
sounds since they are white. Duh!) After the 10th person in
Oktoberfest stepped on me and the 100th splash of beer fell on my
laces, I said c'est la vie! I am in
Munich with some of my best friends and I am worrying about shoes? Nope. The
bigger and joyous events have to triumphant the little bothers always. At one
point, the euphoric atmosphere of toasting, singing, and dancing really
overtook me and I realized that I was probably in one of the happiest places on
earth at that moment. I could have been barefoot for all I cared (that’s a
little extreme but you get the point I’m trying to make)
5) It is important to leave your comfort zone
Though
already being in Italy isn't my common comfort zone, traveling to Germany
really put me out there. I did the whole trip by myself. Almost 10 hours in a
train, by myself. I stayed in Augsburg by myself. I walked to and around
Oktoberfest the first day by myself. I realized many things about myself
because of this. 1) Not talking for that long drives me insane 2) Being alone
makes the world a scarier place 3) But really after the whole trip was done, I
felt more accomplished and independent. It ultimately wasn’t just a trip
dedicated to partying, but actually a life changing experience.
Reunited with some of my best friends!
Paola Croce, UVA
