I said recently that I thought the few weeks after I finished my sophomore year of college would be kind of crazy. At that point, I was in the midst of helping all of my roommates move into their new apartment, taking finals, and attempting to insert myself into the internet culture of gif makers, artists, and musicians that I met at Blip Festival. I really want to write a post about that whole experience of jumping into a new scene. Coming soon, since I don’t post daily anymore.
Apart from all of that New York-based craziness, I was also looking forward to spending ten days in Munich, Germany living with a guy who I met on an exchange in high school. Believe it or not, I am about to admit on the internet that it was my first time ever flying alone (<-- I just admitted it, check it out). It went as well as I could hope, including the delay that made my connecting flight in Zurich possible to catch. The family who I was staying with welcomed me so easily into their apartment - I was actually really surprised that they were so chill about it. But they made me breakfast and dinner most days that I was there! German breakfast isn't filling - a few slices of buttered/jammed bread - but it does taste really awesome.
Having scarce internet connection and being incapable of working on any projects, I was a tourist through and through, visiting about five different Munich cathedrals and about twice as many beer gardens. I was reminded how much better Muenchner bier is than the average American counterpart. They drink a lot of it over there - one of the apartments where I went to a party had twelve empty kaesten (20 .5 oz beers) stacked up in the kitchen. And you may also know that it’s typical to get a 1 liter mass if you go to a biergarten. Case in point:
I had a lot of beer. It’s just so good, that’s the problem. I don’t even want to drink that much over here because it doesn’t taste as good. I know that I sound like quite the elitist right now, but I will make this statement: the average beer in Munich (Loewenbraeu, Hofbraeu, Augustiner) is better than anything I’ve tasted that was made in America (not counting Victory, which is up there with the Muenchners). And check out my unicorn shirt, right? I love that thing….so much. Somebody on facebook called it “gay”, which really just points out his own gayness (spoiler alert: he actually is gay). Anyway…..
I unfortunately took a hugely tiny amount of photos when I was in Muenchen, so the unicorn one and this one, featuring Jakob, the guy I stayed with, are really the only good ones.
Of course, more beer. Of course.
My friend Monica, who is studying in France, came over for a few days since she was travelling around Europe, and we went to a lot of art museums and Munich sightseeing excursions together. Great to see her. And this trip was an excellent opportunity to practice my German, as I spoke nothing but German with the family who were hosting me. I also tried to speak German with the people my age who I was hanging out with, with moderate success. The problem is, though, the combination of the speed of their speech, the fact that they’re talking about things for which I have no cultural context, and their use of slang all made it really hard to communicate with them (not to mention the fact that I was usually attempting this at very loud parties). Still, I did get a lot of great language practice, and picked up a German copy of The Return of the King. Good stuff.
I also had an incredibly fortuitous experience on the return Atlantic flight; totally by chance, a girl from my music classes who I’d never really met but had always wanted to talk to was not only on my flight, but was also willing to sit and converse with me for most of the ocean crossing. I still can’t really believe my luck – it’s just so unbelievably unlikely that someone who I knew of, yet needed an excuse to talk to, would be on an 8 hour flight with me, and I’d have a free seat next to mine. I’m not really religious, but it’s awesome that a coincidence like this is possible. Have you read “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”? This really makes me think of that book, also the movie “500 Days of Summer”. I’m still reeling from the experience, it’s safe to say that this coincidence made my week.
Apfelschorle, Kaiserschmarrn, Augustiner bier, the fact that you press a button to open the subway door – things I will miss about Germany. It was an awesome trip. Being there made me want to stay – don’t worry New York, I still love you more….but take a shower or something.