Prost at Starkbierfest

As I wrote in my Paris post, my blogging is a little out of order because since I was so far behind, I thought it'd be easiest to start with the most recent and work my way back.  Now that Paris is accounted for and in the books, I can move on to Munich!

Munich greeted the official start of MollieSabrinaMarch- Mollie flew in direct from London, where she had been the week before, and I took the 6am train from Münster, resulting in us both arriving just a bit after noon.  My friend Kaycee, another ETA, was already at Starkbierfest, a special month-long festival at beer halls around München celebrating stark bier- literally, strong beer, which is a darker and more flavorful brew, also about 9-10% in volume (learned this a bit later...)

Mollie and I checked into our hostel which was right by the train station.  It's funny, because when Kelly and I did our summer Europe touring back in 2008, and then when I was abroad junior year, I always stayed in hostels-- yet this time, I've been in Europe six months and this was the first time I had stayed in a hostel!  As I've mentioned, I haven't been traveling quite as much and the traveling mentality is also different- rather than see as many new places as I can, I'm focusing more on seeing as many people as I can.  Therefore, I've always been staying with people I know-- stayed with friends in Cork and Dublin, stayed with Paul in Hamburg, stayed with Katherine in Mainz/Heidelberg, stayed with Grace and Jean in Paris, stayed with David in Berlin, and of course stayed with Rae's family in England.  Mollie has been the same way- so it was almost a little weird to go back to the hostel experience- but it suited our needs for our two nights and was actually really cheap considering Munich's a really big city.

Anywayssss...didn't have much time, so we got dressed into our dirndls really fast, grabbed some sandwiches from the bakery, and made our way to Paulaner am Nockenherberg for the festival!  Unfortunately, there was a massive line when we got there so actually had to wait about 45 minutes before we could get in, but it really wasn't a big deal, and I was just happy to be taking in the sunshine and Vitamin D that Munich's blue skies had to offer.  Finally got in just after 3, and found Kaycee and the other Fulbrighters who had snagged a whole table.  The research Fulbrighters left shortly after, so then it was just me, Kaycee, Mollie, and Morgen working on our liters of starkbier.  Being Munich, the majority of people were in lederhosen and dirndls which is always a sight to see- Mollie was so thankful that I was able to borrow my friend Rachel's dirndl for her to wear.

Mollie embracing southern Germany

We made friends with some Spanish guys next to us (who of course spoke like five languages) and then some Germans on the other side of us and all had a jolly good time drinking beer, conversing, and singing and dancing to the band, which played Sweet Caroline AGAIN!  They played it at the Münster Oktoberfest as well-- maybe it's a German thing??  Keine Ahnung.

Kaycee, me, Morgen, and Mollie

Woke up to a mild hangover (again, didn't realize how strong the starkbier was until a little too late...), grabbed some breakfast at bakery and lots of coffee, and then set out on our day of seeing the Munich sights!  I went to Munich for the weekend two years ago when mom was visiting me in Heidelberg (and we went and saw Neuschwanstein), but although Mollie had seen a lot of Germany-- the Alps, Stuttgart and surrounding areas, and Berlin, she had never been to Munich.  Munich's my absolute favorite city in Germany and I think it just has so much more culture than the west (where I am now) and I like the culture better than in the north, so I wanted her to see the Germany that I fell in love with.


Many of you know that this winter has been wicked tough for me-- nevermind it being the worst winter in decades weatherwise, but homesickness has hit me hard, and I'm not totally thrilled with the region of Germany I'm in--it's fine, I just think it's kind of boring and lacks character.  When I was abroad in Heidelberg, I was in Baden-Württemburg, which is considered southern Germany, along with Bayern (Bavaria).  Southern Germany is like the south in most countries--people are just friendlier and nicer, and there's a much stronger culture in the south.  I also think it's extremely more scenic, with the rolling hills, the Alps below Munich, and the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in the Southwest.  Upon returning to Munich those few weekends ago, I was instantly reminded of why I decided to come back to Germany and why I really do like this country.

I realize that there were a lot of factors contributing to this change in attitude- I finally was reunited with Mollie, whom I hadn't seen since September, the sun was FINALLY out and was completely blinding the cloudless sky, and we happened to pick a weekend with a bierfest happening, but it really was more than that.  And it's weird to think how different things might've been if I had ended up in southern Germany- maybe I would have been happier and I would've worked to stay in Germany for another year, rather than applying to grad schools back home, preparing to resume study in the fall.  It's just weird sometimes life works out, but I guess everything happens for a reason.

Mollie on Marienplatz (note the blue sky)

But yes, Sunday was our touristy day since our whole Saturday was spent at Starkbierfest and our train left around 3pm on Monday.  We stopped by the beautiful Marienplatz, visited too many churches to count, saw the sight of Oktoberfest on Theresienwiese, and walked around the Englischer Garten as the sun was setting.  Mom and I walked around these gardens and ate at the biergarten next to the Chinesischer Turm when we visited, but it was also a beautiful day of 70 degrees.  It was sunnier this time around, but still just in the 30s, and the fields were still covered in snow--so, a completely different experience, but still beautiful.

Englischer Garten

Met Kaycee and Morgen for dinner at a traditional Bavarian restaurant (forgot the name...), and had a schnitzel and bier of course.  Back to the hostel afterwards and went to bed quite early because we were absolutely exhausted after walking around all day.  We only had half the day on Monday, so we headed back to Marienplatz to watch the big clock dance on the Neues Rathaus, and then walked around Viktualiemarkt, and then climbed the tower of Peterskirche.  I climbed this tower when I was in Munich before, but I was happy to climb it again because I love seeing cities from towers and also when I climbed it two years ago, it was quite a grey day, and my pictures from this time display the bluest of blue skies!

2011: notice how grey it was and the scaffolding on Frauenkirche

2013: cloudless bright sky and no scaffolding :)

 
After the climb, we headed to Hofbräuhaus for a massive German lunch of Käsespätzle, Weisswurst, and of course, two casual liters of beer.  Nommed on delicious German cuisine, got a little tipsy on giant beers, and listened to some great oompah music- so typisch Bavaria, and I loved every minute of it.  Rushed back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, and hopped on the train where we both proceeded to fall asleep after eating and drinking so much.  The train ride was quite scenic though, as it drove up through central Germany where a lot of the hills are.

Maße in Hofbräuhaus (note the band in the back)

We got back to Münster and went straight to bed since we had to be up at 6:45 to get to the first lesson at school.  I was subbing for my sixth graders and I thought it would be cool for Mollie to come and sit in the class to observe German children and see what German school is like since she teaches in a French school.  Unfortunately, my kids acted so terribly and I was actually kind of embarrassed.  The next day though, Rainer and I talked to the kids and they admitted that they acted really badly and felt really bad about it, and today in class, they all wrote an apology card for me and presented it to me asking me to forgive them-- I ALMOST CRIED THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!  I'm seriously growing really attached to them and am going to miss them so much when it comes time to leave Germany.

Anyways- back to MSM... Mollie also came to my next period, the 11th graders, who just started reading Enduring Love by Ian McEwan.  Like me, she was extremely impressed with the level of English of the students (this is by far my best class and every day, I am so amazed at how well the students speak English at only 16 years old).  After my classes, it was only 10, so we headed to Extra Blatt for the famous buffet breakfast that Katherine and I have made sure to inform the world about--keeping the Heidelberg AJY tradition alive.  My friend Jeff, another Fulbrighter who lives in Hamburg, joined us as well, because he was traveling south through Germany to get to Basel, Switzerland during his spring break, and wanted to check out Münster for the day.  After making ourselves uncomfortably full, we walked around the city a bit, I showed them the castle, and we stopped by a lot of the churches.  Jeff then had to go to make his way to Düsseldorf, and Mollie and I stopped in the Dom, which is finally done with construction, so it was also my first time in it as well!  It's absolutely beautiful on the inside, I was really impressed.

Jeff and Mollie in front of the Schloss (SKY!!!!)

Mollie and the Münster St. Paulus Dom, finally without scaffolding!

After that visit, we headed to the Aasee and laid on the dock for a schlafchen-- forgot to mention that the two days Mollie was here in Münster were literally the two most beautiful days we've had since October.  The sky was bright blue revealing a beaming sun (a rarity for Münster) and the temperatures hit above 60 degrees, so it was a glorious feeling to lay outside, and I was again reminded of my myriad mornings, afternoons, and evenings laying on the Neckarwiese in Heidelberg, letting time go by, and just being happy to lay in the sun and read a book, or to sit and drink beers and eat chips with my friends, or to get excited over a game of flunkyball.

Aasee sunset--these are very rare

Met up with Rae later and took Mollie to our favorite döner place for dinner, and then we came back here and had an early night.  The next day I had to work one lesson and Mollie met me in town afterwards.  We went to the market for about an hour and spent entirely too much money, but it's always so fun to go to the market and buy everything fresh and just watch all the Germans doing their shopping.  We got some Reibekuchen, because Mollie had to try it while she was here, and while we were sitting eating it, an old German couple came and sat next to us and the lady just started talking to me all about how beautiful the day was and how maybe Spring was finally coming and how good my German was (lol).  As I told Mollie- I really wasn't exaggerating about the horrible winter, and although she didn't experience any of it, the reactions of all the Germans to the two beautiful days was enough to convince her how bad the last few months must've been because everyone was going crazy.  Stopped for coffee happy hour at DBV after, and then headed back to the Aasee for another little nap in the sun.  Back home to cook a big elaborate meal with all the food we had just bought, and then met up with a bunch of friends at Bullenkopp for happy hour.

Abendessen with the freshest ingredients!

All in all, a good visit in Münster for Mollie, and we got back and finished packing and headed to the train station just after midnight to catch our train to Paris- the story of which continues in my previous blog post.