I’m here!

So here I am in Munich, city of monks, beer, punk kids, beer, churches, beer, beergardens, beer…have I beaten the theme to death enough yet? I arrived without any major catastrophe, got a bit turned around when initially trying to find the hostel and was then further distracted by a dude walking in front of me wearing super thin khakis and a black thong. Quite the first impression of native Müncheners. Münchenites? Not sure about that one. Other highlights from the past couple of days: being mistaken for a local a couple of times, with people asking me for directions; buying ginormous delicious blackberries at the Viktualienmarket (which I did partially because they were gorgeous and partially because I was too scared to buy food at a restaurant…I may become a fruititarian by the end of this trip); seeing a balding, dred-locked, post-middle age white rasta guy selling dragon fruit and other exotics I couldn’t even recognize; rescuing a fellow hosteler from the bathroom stall – the lock broke on the door and she couldn’t get out. I was in the shower at the time and the only other person there so I tried to lend her a very soggy and soapy rescue by slamming into the stall door to no avail. The hostel personnel eventually had to be summoned, though I made sure I was less soapy for that action. All very dramatic and awkward indeed. Yesterday (Thursday) I went on a free walking tour of the city with a gaggle of other people, all of us brandishing our cameras and oggling local curiosities like only shameless tourists can. It was invaluable, though (awkward as it felt), because the guide seemed to know absolutely everything about the city and its history so it was fun to nerd out on that. The same company offers an evening tour of four local beergardens called the Beer Challenge, which I also went on. Now, I don’t normally drink beer for a variety of reasons, mostly because I just don’t like the taste (blasphemy, some will say, I know). But oh my god. I officially love German beer. And German beergardens. And I am officially the champion of the Beer Challenge, I even have a little ticket that proves it. (No, Mom and Dad, it’s not because I drank the most beer but because I’m that much of a nerd and got the most trivia questions right at the end of the night.) My insta-friends and I took to calling each other by our respective states (or cities, in the cases of the non-American folks) – my best friend for the evening was “Montana, who, as far as I could tell had never (or at least rarely) been drunk before. Needless to say he was hilarious, though the hilarity ended rather abruptly when he spilled my beer and 3 others all over my lap. This would normally not be much more than a significant annoyance, but considering the fact that my clothing is pretty limited and opportunities for washing said clothing even more so (and ridiculously expensive) I was pissed.

Today was definitely less light-hearted, since I spent most of it at the Dachau concentration camp memorial. Words can’t describe the experience. Books, classes, and movies really don’t even come close to actually being there. I think I’ll just leave it at that. While well worth it, I hope tomorrow isn’t as emotionally draining.