Monday
Today was like any normal day. I went to my poetry course and we talked about some Robert Frost poems. In between my two classes I did laundry, grocery shopping and was doing as much homework as I could before the weekend. After my last class, Alyssa and I walked to the other side of the bridge to find a ribbon for our hair. We need a ribbon because this weekend we will be taking a bus to Munich for the last weekend of Oktoberfest.
We walked to the Tiger store to find some and we ended up finding more than what we needed. I was glad we went because I found a handheld mirror that could also stand on my desk, slippers, a more packable water bottle, metal straws and more importantly, a straw cleaner as well as a USB charger for my phone. After that, we were walking to go to Sephora, H&M, and Zara when we came across another store where I got a neck pillow for the bus that was only €10. After that store we saw a Foot Locker and we peeked inside to see if they had a pair of shoes that I was ogling over since Florence.
Guess what ladies and gents, they had them and I bought them! I was so happy to have found them because every time I had looked for them online they were not available. The shoes I loved are Air Force 1’s with a Blue Gingham Nike Swoosh. After that, we stopped at a few more stores to take a look around. We went into Sephora to see what products they had compared to America and see if any of the brands that we loved were there. I was really happy to see the Laneige brand because I was running out of my lip gloss, sad I know right.
After shopping, we stopped at a really popular gelateria which offers 150 flavours, Gelateria Della Palma. I got three flavours of gelato, Nutella, mint stracciatella, and lavender. The lavender was amazing so if you ever get the chance to go to Gelateria Della Palma, get lavender! After gelato, we walked back to our apartments and I stayed on the phone with my mom my whole walk letting her know of the new things I was tasting and new places I was seeing.
Tuesday
My original plan for Tuesday was to get up early and go to Campo di Fiori and get some fresh fruit and vegetables. I decided to sleep in instead and when I woke up, I made myself a nice turkey and smoked provolone cheese sandwich.
I eat the same thing everyday. For lunch I will make myself a turkey sandwich with provolone cheese, mayo and mustard. Sometimes if I have left overs I will eat that, but I rarely do. Then for dinner I usually will make noodles with a lemon and butter pepper sauce. So to change it up, after my classes I went to Conad, and bought some steak cubes. I cooked them up and added some shredded parmesan with it and had some Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce to dip it in. Let’s just say, being a great cook runs in the family.
Wednesday
Today I actually went back to the other side of the bridge by myself. I wanted to get a pair of black jeans which I originally thought wouldn't be hard to find right. I cannot begin to explain how rough it was to find a pair of jeans in general that were my size. I have a huge issue when stores don’t carry larger sizes because I can almost never find pants or shorts in my size. When I was done shopping, after I finally found a pair of jeans that were one size smaller than what I wear, I had a fit over text with my friends. It wasn’t targeted to them at all but I felt like we are close enough that I can proclaim my issues with sizing in the fashion and clothing industry.
After my little fit and after my classes, I did one last load of laundry and did the rest of my homework so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it done over the weekend.
Thursday
I had my walking class today except today we met in the classroom to talk about our street analysis project as well as what American culture is. We discussed that American culture is made up of other cultures from other nations.
After that, I went back to my apartment for a quick lunch and to finalize my packing for Munich. After I was done with that, I made sure that my bag and clothes that I would need for the bus were ready for me to change into quickly and grab to run out the door.
As soon as my mythology course was done, I booked it back to my apartment, changed into my bus clothes very quickly and grabbed my bag and ran out the door. On my way to Alyssa’s dorm, I filled up my water bottle that I had gotten earlier that week and met up with Alyssa. We took an Uber to the train station where the bus would be picking us up and our Uber ended up making some wrong turns making us late, which made us very nervous. Thankfully, we got there early enough to order a delicious and nutritious meal from KFC. I was so happy to have fried chicken it was unbelievable how fast I ate that chicken. The rest of the day we spent on the bus. We went from Rome to Florence to pick up some more students, and then we took another bus all of the way to Munich, Germany with our first stop being McDonald’s.
Friday
After our stop at McDonald’s, our bus brought us to our hostel where we checked in and unloaded our bags from under the bus. We were given time to change and freshen up after the 14 hour bus ride that some of us had, Rome students, before we went to a shop to buy lederhosen and dirndls. The place we went to had so many options and was recommended by the company we were traveling with, Smart Trips. Smart Trips planned everything for us which really was the buses, hostel, and tours.
Alyssa and I found dirndls we liked and bought them. The store that we bought them from sells traditional Oktoberfest attire instead of the costumes that you can get off of Amazon. The store was called, Einkaufs Center Schuhe Textilien. After getting our dirndls, we waited across the street for Emily to arrive.
When she did, we went back to the store to help her find her traditional dirndl. Then we went and got bratwurst at a closeby restaurant, Münchner Stubn. It was very good, especially for my first time trying authentic bratwurst. I was a happy girl. After lunch, we went to the old town and did some shopping. I got some gifts while I was there as well as a sweatshirt because I was stupid enough to leave mine in Rome. It is okay, it just gives me an excuse to get a souvenir.
Friday was all about shopping, as soon as it hit 4:30 we were all ready to go back to our rooms and take a well deserved nap, which is exactly what we did. Alyssa and I went back to the hostel, grabbed our beds and snoozed for about 2.5 hours before getting ready to go get dinner from the best place ever, Hard Rock Cafe. I made the reservation solely on the fact that they had a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and I needed something that reminded me of home. So that is what I had along with a beer and fries, yummy.
After dinner we walked around before heading to a nightclub that we partly enjoyed until someone grabbed my hair and pushed me. It was not nice and I did not enjoy any part of being there afterwards. We ordered a taxi to take us to Emily’s hotel to drop her off, and then the taxi dropped Alyssa and I off at our hostel, a very nice driver.
Saturday
The day you have all been waiting for. This was the day Alyssa, Emily and I went to Oktoberfest. We started the day with breakfast and then immediately went into getting ourselves ready. I braided Alyssa’s hair as well as my own and then I did my make up as well. After being fully ready, we ordered an Uber to take us to Emily’s hotel to walk to the festival together.
After picking her up, we walked a maximum of 3 minutes to the festival and for Oktoberfest you don’t need to buy tickets to get into it, you just need reservations for the tents, which we did not know. We had an idea that if we wanted to just galavant in we did, but we did not know that we would have to wait so long to get in.
The first thing we did was buy the gingerbread necklaces. Mine said “Oktoberfest 2023” and it was half the size of my head. Then we walked around until we realised we were hungry so we stopped at a stand and got some nice food, bratwurst to be exact. For the one that I got, the guy told me it was spicy and said I should get another one, I refused so when he gave it to me, I put spicy mustard on it, and took a bite in front of the guy. I did not make a face, trust me when I say this. Don’t mess with a Buffalo girl. If you tell me, or a Buffalo girl, that something may be too spicy for us, we will challenge you to it and make it spicier. I was very proud of myself at that moment. I inhaled the bratwurst and it was gone in a matter of minutes, but it was still very good.
After eating the bratwursts, Alyssa and I went on a ride which sprayed water at us, kinda fun not going to lie. Then we decided that we wanted to go into a tent so we just needed to find a line and get in it. This is when the day starts to get, bleh.
We found the Schützen Festzelt tent and got in line. We stood behind some guys that were actually studying in Ireland. They were very nice and two of them were from New York, you wouldn’t know that though if you heard them speak. An hour into waiting to get in, the police had to arrest someone who was causing a disturbance in the tent. The part that baffled me, was that the German police were calmer than American police. I am going to leave that there. After 2 more hours of waiting, totalling 3 hours of standing in line and being squished and pushed, we were done. We jumped out of line because people we smushing themselves into you every time the doors were open, not fun.
To end the night, we left Oktoberfest and headed to the Hofbrauhaus, like THE Hofbrauhaus, and had dinner and a beer there. We met some more people there, one of the guys at the table looked just like David Beckham, he wasn’t him, they looked so similar which is weird because there was another guy in the place that looked like Lionel Messi, I was so confused.
Sunday
We had to be up early today because we were leaving the hostel to go to the Dachau Concentration Camp, one of the first concentration camps built. We started with getting ready, then going to breakfast, then putting our luggage in the storage room. Once that was all done and the bus arrived, we got on the bus and headed out. On the way to the concentration camp, we passed a store called “Moser”, which is what my last name is in its German form. Those stores sold other authentic Oktoberfest attire, very cool to me.
Once we arrived to Dachau, we departed the bus and went inside the museum to get our listening devices for our tours. Throughout walking the entire camp, I couldn’t help but tear up and cry at some of what I was hearing. Some of it was journal entries from during and after as well as just seeing the prison rooms.
After Dachau, we went back to the hostel to pick up the rest of the students before heading back to Florence to drop those students off, then heading to Rome. We didn’t get back to Rome until 2:45 am. Thankfully, the Smart Trip staff kept us updated with their updated ETA’s so we were able to preorder taxis so that they would be there once we arrived.
Once the bus stopped, Alyssa and I ran off the bus, grabbed our luggage and headed to our taxi. Alyssa was dropped off first, then me because I live the farthest. After I got back, I immediately showered and then went to bed.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy my travels as much as I do!
Photo Descriptions:
Monte Roen
Gelateria Della Palma (150 Flavours of Gelato)
New Town Hall (Munich)
Lunch at Münchner Stubn
Dachau Concentration Camp
Monte Roen
Me at the Hofbrahaus
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