Munich, Allemagne!

Munich is a magical place. It is most certainly the best trip I have been on so far. Obviously, I had never been to Germany, didn't really know what to expect other than a definite language barrier, and didn't really know why or how Jasmine and Tyler choose Munich for our epic GLS reunion in Europe. It was indeed an epic reunion. The gang included: Jasmine (studying in Rome), Jody (Bordeaux, France), Tyler (Linz, Austria), Ava (Madrid, Spain), Asher (Manchester, U.K.), and myself.

So, Munich is AWESOME! It was really the best trip, with the best people, in the best possible city. As one can definitely tell from the pictures to follow, Munich is simply a really happy, cheerful place that is really just full of drunk, happy beer enjoying lots of sausage and crazy potato salad. One would think this wouldn't really my place considering I'm not a big beer drinker and have a big aversion to red meat, however you just have to go for it and have the time of your life. It was so much fun to go around this crazy town with the best people. I mean, the best people including all of the Germans that live there full-time. Munich isn't really that touristy so we got to see a city as its finest and really do what the locals do, which is sit in beer gardens, laugh really loud, sing songs, and build awesome cars (not all at the same time). Germans are my favorite Europeans so far, no doubt; so far, because I haven't been to the U.K. yet and may fall in love with their accents. However, Germans are the most disciplined, hard-working, brilliant yet most fun-loving people I have ever been around. As any good E.U. student knows, Germany dominates business, but now I know that they also have a ton of fun and enjoy life more than most. Maybe that's why GLS fit in so well. We do most things better than most people... including having fun, and so do the Germans.

Tyler, Ava, Jody, and Jasmine arrived in Munich pretty early on Friday, and Asher and I caught up at Hofbrauhaus when we arrived around 9 that night. Hofbrauhaus in the world-renowned beer house in Munich. EVERYONE where is it, they know all about it, and EVERYONE has to go there when in Germany at all. It is Germany's premier beer house. Just to clarify, a beer house is simply a huge (HUGE!) hall of long wooden tables and benches where all Germans go to drink, talk, sing, laugh for hours (HOURS!). This is even more interesting when you add a full German band (called an "Oompah" band) and lots of men in lederhosen!!! Lederhosen! These are technically traditional German wear of leather shorts with suspenders, however it usually looks something like this...

Ava somehow took this picture at Hofbrauhaus! Anyway, the atmosphere is amazing with so many people is a huge room laughing and drinking. Brilliant.

Hofbrauhaus! I can't even spell it correctly with my American keyboard, and Lord knows I can't say it correctly. Sarah, from a small town in Germany and in all of my business classes) really made fun of me a couple days before I left for Munich when I was describing where I was meeting my friends. I mean, she horse laughed at me. But, I will learn German because it's the best language ever... eventually.

So, this was just Friday night. More later.