Oktoberfest!! I SURVIVED!!

well i am proud to say that I am a survivor the 200th anniversary of oktoberfest! it was a long day but well worth it! so friday night, i packed up my bags, brought a pillow and blanket, and walked over to the train station to meet the group that I was going with. A bunch of people from my program, probably about 40 were going so it was nice to now people going with me. i got to the train station and there were about 100 people! it was finally time to leave and the whole time i was thinking how i wanted to sit in the front because it will be quiet and all the loud people will be in the back...of course i got a seat in the back. my friend casey and i were just looking at each other and so mad because guys sitting behind us had speakers and were already playing music! this was going to be a looong bus ride! so the bus finally takes off and it was fun to socialize but at the same time it was about 1 am..so about an hour later it calmed down and everyone attempted to sleep on the cramped (with no leg room) bus.

we finally arrived after stopping on the border of germany and austria, changing outfits and fixing ourselves up after being on the bus for such a long time. it was pretty chilly in munich and the whole day it was overcast. so we got there around 10, which was way to late! it was sooo crowded and we stood in line for about an hour and a half and couldn't get into a tent! there were so many people i guess because this was the last weekend of the 200th anniversary. so we just walked around a lot in the beginning trying to see if there were any tents that were already full..but we couldn't ever find one! we walked around the beer gardens too but there were just so many people it was crazy! we then went to a carousel that is like a rotating bar and we got our first beers there. i got a half liter of i can't remember the name now but it was like most beer and then a splash of lemonade. soo good! i couldn't believe that i was actually enjoying this beer. so we hung out there for a pretty long time, met some people from pepperdine who were studying in southern france. we then decided to leave and get something to eat. we then got huge sausages that didn't even fit in the buns! and i thought the hotdogs at costco were big! hahaha

we then were getting pretty tired so we went and sat on this hill that had a huuuge statue of a lady. but we didn't realize that apparently that was the hill were all the passed out/throwing up people went...so we were just sitting there and seeing all these people passed on in the middle of the road- talk about making you not want to drink! so we left there and we were all pretty tired so we decided to leave oktoberfest since we weren't going to be able to find a place to sit and find a restaurant in the downtown area. of course we find the one and only italian restaurant! haha but they did have beer and german pretzels so it was fine. so we got some more beer of course and just sat there for a while, enjoyed each others company, sang along with the germans while they were drinking a ton, ate some huge pretzels and it was a less crowded oktoberfest-ish area that i really enjoyed! then around 9 we went back into the oktoberfest festival area and i really just enjoyed people watching..the germans really do know how to drink..thats for sure! there was such a range of drunk people, from 12 year olds to 80 year olds..so crazy! then around 11:30 we headed back to our bus and everyone just passed out on the bus..it was such a long ride home and i was sooo happy to be back in florence!

so i came to the conclusion that i had a good time at oktoberfest..but to be completely honest, it just wasn't my scene, there were so many drunk people running into you you, and there were just so many people. but don't get me wrong, i loved the experience and the fact that I can say i have been to oktoberfest..but would i go again? it would take some convincing haha
then later that day i met up with some family friends from san jose, the guidaces and I was able to catch up with them. they also gave me a package that my mom gave them to give to me which i loooved!!

i am still getting used to seeing stuff from home because its hard and it makes me a little homesick every once and a while but i know that i have so much love and support coming from home! hope everyone is doing well and thanks all for reading my blog!

week of Sept. 26

hello everyone! sorry i haven't wrote on here for a while but school is picking up so I don't have as much time...anyways, last sunday was a cancer awareness walk that about 15,000 people participated in, called "Corri la Vita" (walk for life). it was sooo much fun! there were so many people in purple shirts and work out clothes! it was so exciting because no one here ever wears work out clothes and if you know me just the slightest bit..you know that i wear workout clothes everyday and coming here was a struggle of having to dress up in real clothes every day. but this was the one time that people were actually wearing workout clothes! i finally fit in! so we went to the starting point which is the plaza signoria (statue garden and fake david are there) and there were soo many people! it was so awesome to see so many florentines here supporting cancer and volunteering their time and effort. During the walk many museums and gardens that usually you have to pay to get it..so we went to so many churches (be proud grandma and mom!), the pitti palace, and the famous gardens (honestly i have no clue what they are called) but they were gorgeous...the walk was fun to be with my friends and trying to meet new people..my friend liz and i got a belium waffle with nutella on top during the walk just for kicks..and it was so good! there was so much sugar and it was so chocolate-y it was definitely the breakfast of champions! so the walk finished around 2 and then there was music in the plaza so we just hung out there for a while..pretty good day!
this week was not too exciting except for learning another past tense of the italian language...so now i am up to three tenses!
yesterday i went to the library since i got a card a few weeks ago and i checked out some movies that are in italian with english subtitles so i am excited to watch them..i got mrs. doubtfire, bridget jones diary, million dollar baby and dirty dancing..i am hoping that this will help me with the language because i am finding out that writing the language is coming easy for me, its just speaking which is so hard for me!
but on that note the other day i decided that i wanted to do a language tandem exchange which is (basically what julia roberts does in eat pray love) and i teach the person english while they teach me italian..so i got the english speaking newspaper, The Florentine, and looked in the classified section and found a 30 year old who is looking to work on his english. so i emailed him and we met today (i was sooo nervous by the way!) but he was super nice and we got a sandwich and cafe and he helped me so much with italian and he is already really good at english but he just wants to learn sayings that we say in america so he can get the "lingo" down..so i am really glad that i went through with it and he was so good at helping me learn words and getting tenses down..we were just walking down the street and he would point something out and i would try and figure out the word..i think it will really help so i am excited about it!
o alsooo i am working on getting an internship for a website called "Flo n the Go"! its a start up website that i would write articles for from an american student perspective about the lifestyle in florence..i am really excited about it and hope that it all works out! i would be writing a couple articles a month and would be published on the website right away..so i will definitely keep you all updated about that!
well i am off to oktoberfest for the weekend! its going to be crazy and i am a little frightened..we leave at midnight tonight, take a bus and get there at 9 am, stay till 11pm and drive back for another 9 hours...get back sunday around 8am..it will be the longest day of my life! but how can i be in europe and not go to oktoberfest while it is going on! maybe i will start to like beer there..who knows? i will let ya know!
hope everyone is doing well..if you ever want to email me, my email is michelle.giraudo@yahoo.com..i love emails! and i love real letters too! thats like christmas for me! ok bye everyone! i will update you all soon..don't worry!