Hi everyone! :)

Yes, I'm alive! I survived OKTOBERFEST 2008! Haha, we had so much fun that trying to explain it doesn't even do it justice. I have never been more exhausted finally being back in Florence and I am greatly looking forward to having a quiet weekend filled with naps, homework and local sightseeing.

We arrived in Munich, Germany very early on Friday morning. We took an overnight train from Florence to Munich (Which was 8.5 hours! Awful!) Luckily, we were greeted in the Munich train station by a Starbucks, which allowed us to wake up and prepare ourselves for our first crazy day. Surprisingly when we checked into our hotel room they had our room ready for us, so we had the opportunity to properly get ready and take a moment to relax before departing to the ever-famous beer tents.

That morning was very rainy, when we arrived to the tents we were surprised to find out that it was a national holiday all throughout Germany and nearly everyone had the workday off and were visiting the tents. Because of this it was much more difficult to enter a tent, and the only way to be served a beer at Oktoberfest is to be inside a tent and seated at a table. The four of us (Jill, Alyssa, Caitlin and I) decided to head back to the hotel to rest and give it another try a little later in the day. When we arrived back at about 7PM we had no problem getting a table and being served our first liter of beer for the weekend! That night we met a group of guys from San Francisco. They were a lot of fun and we shared our table with them the whole night. Later on, we found out that they were staying at the hotel next door to ours so we all headed back to our hotels together in our large group.

The next morning we woke up early so we could be sure we'd make it inside a different tent. We arrived at about 10AM and headed into the Lowenbrau. Here we met some people from Italy and some from Australia as well. Whether it be 10AM or 10PM everyone inside the tents are wide awake and having a good time. People stand on the tables, stomp on the floor, cheer, chant, sing, and dance. There were several chants in particular that everyone inside the tents seemed to know and it was most fun when every single person inside the tents would start singing and dancing in unison. It was truly an experience, and everyone is so friendly and happy! On this day we spent time in the Lowenbrau and the P&B tent. We even managed to sneak out mugs of our own from the P&B tent to keep as souvenirs! That night we ate Bratwurst and caramelized nuts. They were so good! They also had giant pretzels, which you could literally not eat all in one sitting. All of the food was amazing, but everything tastes a little better with a couple of liters of beer in you I suppose! :)

The following day was our last day and we spent our entire day in the most popular of tents, the Hoffbrau. The HB is most frequented by Americans and Australians. Inside the tent we met a very large group of Australians (which were all so CUTE! I'm visiting Australia the first chance I get!) and a group of people from South Africa. All of them were really great and had a good time all together. We started out at about 9:30 AM and ended somewhere around 6PM. Our train to depart back to Florence left the train station at 9PM and was once again another overnight train, so we had plenty of time to get our baggage and head over that direction. We anticipated sleeping most of the time on the train back, but after spending our entire day in the HB and realizing we will probably never have another opportunity to experience Oktoberfest the way we had, we were too wound up and excited to sleep. The people in the sleeper car next to us probably hated us because we continued to sing the chants that we had learned in the tents and talk about memories that we had made up until almost morning.

We had an unforgettable time and the memories that made this weekend will be ones that are irreplaceable! Not only did we have fun with each other but we made friends with people all the way from San Francisco, South Africa and Australia. Everyone was there for the same reason, to have a good time and to meet new people. In addition to this, myself and all of my friends decided that we are probably going to be the "coolest moms" in twenty years when we have kids of our own and can say, "Oh ya kids, your mom had the time of her life and partied her butt off at OKTOBERFEST all the way back in 2008!" Hahaha :)

Enjoy the pictures, I'm going to try and put up some video of the weekend, but even the video doesn't do it justice! I hope everyone is having a a great start to their October.

Taryn-- sorry I missed your senior homecoming. Mom is sending me pictures and I'll be looking at your facebook to catch up on what I've missed! I'll be there to get you ready for Prom (in the hottest dress ever! haha!) I promise!

Mom, Dad, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosaria-- I CAN'T WAIT UNTILL NEXT THURSDAY!! Haha, you guys have no idea how much I'm looking forward to seeing all of you! I'm in need of a little touch of home to get over the halfway hump of my time here!

Everyone else--- Thanks for the message board posts! It's great getting to read little notes from everyone! Love you all and miss you bunches!!

Ciao for Now,

Carrie :)