Oktoberfest in München

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Photos to be viewed here. I only took my 50mm fixed lens with, so unfortunately no group pictures.

A Maß of Beer. 1 litre, the only way you can buy beer at Oktoberfest

So during the week the group of Brazilians suggested we make a mission to Oktoberfest for the day. Figuring I wouldn’t have a chance to go to Oktoberfest again I decided to join in. We ended up being a group of 23 international students standing at Reutlingen station at 23h30 on Friday night.

Paulaner was the only brewery whose beer I had tried before in SA

We made use of a group ticket which allows us to travel on any regional trains for 27 hours (DB Schönes Wochenende). Only taking regional trains can end up being quite a pain, but the cost savings compared to taking the fast trains can be fairly large. We ended up with a 3 hour layover in Ulm, at 02h30 in the morning though.

View over some of Oktoberfest

We arrived in Munich (München) on an absolutely packed train. People in Lederhosen and Dirndl were everywhere, drinking on the train already. As we got off the train there were even more people. We took an S-Bahn a bit closer to the event and followed the crowds to Oktoberfest.

At the entrance, photo: Evgenii

When we got there none of us really knew what to do. We knew we had to be there early, as tents closed fairly early in the morning, as soon as they became full. But none of the tents were yet open. Small crowds were gathering around the entrances of several of the tents, so we decided to pick one and sit in line.

Half an hour later at 09:00 the the tents opened and we were rushed in and to two tables. It was lucky we were there that early, as by 09:30 pretty much all the tables were full and the tent was being closed. I use the word tent, but the structure is massive. We were in the Augistiner Bräu tent, which I would guess is easily seating 5000 people. Interesting thing I learnt is that the only beer that can be served at Oktoberfest is beer that has been brewed according to the Reinheitsgebod (the same as Windhoek brewery’s beers) and within the Munich city limits.

So we had a table, and we could sit there till about 15h00 when we would get kicked out, so people with reserved tables could take them over. 15h00 was optimistic. The Russians who were with us wanted to do some sight seeing so left us at about 12h30 and myself with three other guys departed the tent shortly after 13h30. Leaving the Brazilians to their own devices.

photo: Evgenii

We had a walk around the rest of the festival, had a look at the other tents, stores and roller coaster rides which were available. We then took a short trip around Munich and up St Paul’s Church’s bell tower.

The original plan was to leave at 20h30 and arrive back in Reutlingen shortly after midnight. We got to the station and saw we can take a 18h30 train and end up home by 22h15. Deciding this was the best idea, we got hold of the Russians and Brazilians and organised to meet up for the train.

missing train

After a bit of confusion we all ended up on the platform together again, waiting for the train. A train which left almost an hour late. Meaning we missed our early connecting train in Ulm, which meant we still only made it home to Reutlingen after midnight. And because that train was late we missed the night bus back to the residence by 5min. So we walked the half hour instead. We weren’t all too happy about Deutsche Bahn by the end of the trip.

Jorge trying to sleep on the train

The trains were also packed! All seats taken, and no where left to stand. We thought this would clear up by the time we got to Plochingen. But we forgot that Stuttgart’s version of Oktoberfest had just started, the Cannstatter Volksfest and the trains all the way home were full of people going home from there. We ended up standing for majority of the way home. A very long trip all in all.

People queueing to get into tents as we left

General crowds at the event

Besides the lack of sleep and not so great train rides, I had a really great time. It was fun, and had good company to enjoy the day. Would I do it again, probably, but not exactly how we did it. I’m glad I went and had the opportunity to go and say I’ve been to Oktoberfest. The beer and food was good too.

Our ‘waiter’ for the day, must make a fortune

In two weeks time we actually have the opportunity to go to the Cannstatter Volksfest with the university. They organised a sponsor, so we have 2000 reserved seats waiting for us 16h00 the one afternoon. It will be a slightly different experience to Oktoberfest, but looking forward to it.

people inside the tent

The French WRC rally (Rally de France) is happening this weekend in Strasbourg, which is less than 200km by car from Reutlingen. I’m going to chat to some people and see if anyone’s interested in going and maybe go watch some stages on Saturday.

Bodensee, Konstanz and Meersburg

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Gallery of photos can be found here.

On Saturday we went on our final official outing for the international group. We took a bus down to Konstanz, where after a brief tour of some of the sights we were free to do our own thing for a while.

While we grabbed some lunch, others made a dash for the German/Swiss border. Just after 13:00 we met up at the harbour area where we hopped on a ferry which would take us across the Bodensee (Lake of Constance) to Meersburg.

The weather was overcast all morning with the odd light drizzle. As the boat headed out of the harbour the rain started coming down, and persisted till after we arrived in Meersburg. Due to the weather we opted to catch the bus an hour earlier. With not much time we found a small pub to grab a beer and wait out the time.

I would love to take another trip to the Bodensee in better weather, but once again we were greeted by beautiful towns filled with old buildings and detailed architecture.

Tubingen

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Another day another outing to another beautiful German city. Collection of photos can be seen here.

This afternoon they International Office had organised an outing to the nearby university town of Tubingen for us. Straight after lunch we hopped on the train and arrived in a sunny Tubingen. We grabbed some ice-cream and were taken on a tour of the city.

The town has a lot of old, beautiful buildings. Lots of flowers were visible and the town also has a castle. Quite a few of the buildings you see are built outwards on each floor, kind of like an inverted pyramid. Apparently land was expensive, so to give the buildings more space, each successive storey was built wider than the lower one.

We grabbed a quick beer before hopping onto some boats for a bit of Stockherkahnfahrt. Or punting.

The boats could seat close to 20 people, and we ended up with four boats. We had a lovely time floating up the river. Nice and relaxed and in the sun. On the way back we were given the opportunity to give punting a go ourselves which is quite fun :)

Thanks to Asem for the photo

We also found quite of these locks throughout the town. Apparently couples engrave them and place them somewhere as a symbol when they get married.

We chose to grab some supper in the town before heading back to Reutlingen.

Mikael posted a video on his blog from the Stockherkahnfahrt which you can see below. The boats are pretty stable, but fairly easy to rock.

Also, with the help of Asem I’ve finally got myself a local simcard, which means my Whatsapp is finally back up and running.

Student Exchanges

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I’ve met a lot of people in the last week. A lot of people from a lot of different universities and countries. Countries such as Brazil, America, Canada, Belgium, France, Hungary, England, China, Jordan, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Morocco, Egypt and more. All of these people are here in Reutlingen to do a semester or more of study abroad and some of them intend to do an internship semester here too.

Most of our exchange group

Why is this interesting? Well because no one in South Africa does it, well almost no one. I’m only the second South African who’s been here in the last few years, and me, like the previous South African, didn’t come here to study, but to do research or work on a master’s program. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to here is doing their first degree and was given the opportunity to do one of their semesters abroad.

Speaking to these people, they aren’t the only ones from their class who are doing an exchange. Some of them have several friends here currently, while others have gone to other universities all over the world to do similar projects. Reutlingen itself sends it’s students all over the world. Before coming to Germany, I met 3 students from here who are doing their internship at my home university NMMU. They were a group of over 10 students currently doing a semester at NMMU. Others have gone to Cape Town, Stellenbosch or other partnered universities around the world.

Why then doesn’t this happen in South Africa. I don’t know of anyone of the of 400 engineering students that graduated their degree with me last year who spent any time studying abroad, whereas here and elsewhere it is the norm to do this.

I know of quite a few master’s students from South Africa who have spent time overseas doing an internship or research at foreign universities or businesses, but no one at the degree level. Considering the large percentage of students that don’t do postgrad degrees, they never really get an opportunity to experience this.

In Europe there are projects such as the Erasmus Programme which aims to help exchange students as well as build cooperation amongst EU universities. But there are non-EU countries still doing these exchange programs.

There are difficulties, firstly the semesters in Europe tend to run from October-February and April-August, different to the February-June and July-November found in South Africa. Secondly ensuring the content covered by exchange universities matches that required for the issuing of a degree by the home university. But surely there must be ways around this?

In any case, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be here and experience life here for the next 3 months.