Week of October 24th-28th

I apologize for the lack of originality in my title but I could not think of a way to sum up this past week into one particular thing or feeling. Like all weeks here it has been a varied set of experiences but this one has had an added sense of stress and intensity that I haven't had while in Rome. I guess I can kind of write this as a series of little updates and tidbits to help me remember what happened but without making it seem like one continuous event.

My week began on an amazingly high note after having my friend Brit stay with me over the weekend. Not to downplay all the incredibly fun times we had while she was here (that could fill pages in another blog), but it was a great time that made my procrastination of my school-related things very worth while. But that certainly made me have to play an intense game of catch-up right off the bat when I went to school on Monday. I had both an Art History presentation and an Italian midterm in two days and I had done absolutely nothing to prepare for either things so I was pretty much busy at all times this week. After a full day of school I came home to a very unnerving situation. My apartment mate Jeremy was suffering tremendously from some sort of illness and it was so intense that we had to call and ambulance to take him to the hospital.  I don't think I've ever seen somebody so traumatically ill and it was honestly really scary. I agreed to ride with him in the ambulance to calm him down and talk with the paramedics. That was one of the most intense rides of my life but thankfully I kept myself together and was able to function in a real "crisis-mode." I was shocked that I was able to keep calm and do a pretty good job trying to speak Italian with the paramedics. Luckily the madness subsided when we got to the hospital and our program manager stepped in to translate and take care of everything. Jeremy ended up staying in the hospital for three days to get over the really intense flu and I'm glad it's all over now.

It was a relief to get home Monday night but I ended up going to bed really late and then had to wake up at 6 AM for my Italy Reads volunteer program. This was extremely difficult and I was cursing myself the whole time waiting for the bus outside in the dark for signing up to do these Italian high school visits but it payed off in a big way once we got started. We took two different buses to a very different part of Rome that we had never seen before and walked into a pretty nice (private I think?) high school. Our program was set-up around the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and we were there to discuss its themes with the students. This proved to be a very interesting and rewarding experience to hear these Italian kids talk about a novel in ENGLISH that was very American in nature but I was pleased to see they understood much of it. I was seriously impressed with their English-speaking and reading abilities and it made me think twice about what it means to truly learn another language. And I also enjoyed being able to provide my distinct, American insight on this novel and it made me proud of my teaching abilities. This visit was a great success and I have a few more to look forward too, including a follow-up to the same class which is exciting.

After more intense studying and late nights, I had my big day of the presentation and midterm and they both went pretty well despite the stress leading up to them. Since then it has been relaxing, minus the fact that my headphones broke during the week. I think I am a headphone murderer because this has literally been the fourth pair of headphones that have broken in the past two years. It's not that I'm overly rough with each pair; it's just my constant use (literally like every day) that wears down the wiring. Luckily I was smart this time and bought an extended warranty from Guitar Center so I can get them replaced when I get back but it sucks nonetheless to go from awesome AKGs to shitty ipod earbuds.

But the past two days (Thursday and Friday) have been awesome and relaxing. I finally had a reason to take PICTURES (yes, first one's I've taken since I lost my camera over a month ago) when I went to the Villa Borghese and the Vatican Museum. Since I finished the bulk of my workload, I had no homework or things to do on Thursday so Vince and I decided to go for a run/walk to the Villa Borghese which is a place we regretfully haven't been to enough times while living so close by. We are all realizing that in many ways our time is limited here. With all of our weekend trips planned and the impending workload that finals entail, we need to take advantage of every opportunity we have to explore our city. The villa was so beautiful and peaceful that we both agreed to make a better effort in coming back to the park for a place to picnic and hang out. It is especially beautiful given that we are now in Fall:

Great view of the Piazza del Popolo and the Vatican:

Saw some cool stuff along our walk down one of the main roads:

A lot of the park's vegetation and architecture strangely reminded me of San Diego but maybe that's a stretch because I miss home so much. The zoo looked a lot like the SD Zoo that's for sure:

It has been great to finally have pictures of my own even though a lot of them are of pretty unexciting things...

Today (Friday) my program and I went to the Vatican Museum for an amazing guided tour that was probably my favorite one so far in Italy. Our tour guide was actually a studied Art Historian which was very valuable because there was so much to see and learn about in a short amount of time. The museum, as expected, was extremely lavish and contained thousands (if not millions, seriously) of art works from Ancient Greece, Egypt, the Medieval Era, the Renaissance, and even Modern Contemporary Art. As you can imagine, this place was massive and overwhelming; the museum felt like it was just an endless hallway with every inch covered in something beautiful. For example:

I didn't get to take many pictures because we moved so quickly but here are a few, though I doubt they will do it justice.

The highlight of course was our visit to the Sistine Chapel. Frankly I don't think I've ever seen anything more visually amazing in my entire life. How did Michelangelo paint that, and more importantly, how did he know he could paint that? I was shocked by the amount of detail within such a large-scale work but it makes sense considering it took over four years to complete. Thinking about that in itself was just as thought-provoking as the subjects alone but of course they came to life more than I have ever seen before. The Last Judgement in particular was the most shocking; it was designed to scare its viewers into fearing the wrath of Christ, something not typically represented in religious art (his sense of forgiveness is usually portrayed). To this day, Michelangelo's execution of the scene is immensely powerful and effective. Although we had a full twenty minutes to look around in the Chapel, there was clearly not enough time to "read" the scenes and soak it all up. So we will definitely be back. I want to revisit with more time and energy to see the other wings of the museum to see more of its fantastic and one-of-a-kind collection.

So as I said earlier, a very interesting and diverse week here in Rome. I'm learning so much and I am thankful everyday for the opportunities that seem to just fall into my lap. Just "popping in" for a visit to the VATICAN on any regular Friday is a great example of this sense of pure discovery and excitement that comes from living in one of the most interesting cities in the world.

Parents in Rome!

Today is Friday, the last day of a rather "mixed" week here in Rome. Even though my parents have been here since Tuesday, it hasn't been as easy as I would've liked it to be. My first and foremost issue has been my migraines/cluster headaches/HELL that have happened to me (sometimes multiple times per day) for the entire week since Sunday. I know this is a cyclical occurrence (the same thing happened around this time last October) but these have been way more frequent, intense, and unfortunately very debilitating while living in this loud and very active city. Though they initially were very treatable with my 800 mg ibuprofen, I am beginning to worry that I have developed some sort of tolerance beginning with last night (I seem to have had some sort of pain all night and throughout today). It is very unnerving knowing that a migraine could be coming at any moment of my day.

On the bright side, it has been great having my parents in Rome; I've loved showing around my familiar areas (my neighborhood around my apartment and school) and going out to eat in some really great restaurants. That said, it has been a bit stressful coordinating our meetings mainly because of their horrible phones which I have virtually lost all faith in. They can not seem to send or receive any texts and have a lot of trouble just answering my calls. But I am overall really happy that they've been able to see so much of Rome in such a short amount of time.

One of my favorite days of the week was yesterday when I went with my parents to the Villa Borghese and got to see the famous Galleria Borghese that I have been waiting so long to see. The highlight of the Villa (of all the amazing art we got to see) was Bernini's sculpture-work that was the main focus of the downstairs gallery. His three freestanding main sculptures, David, The Rape of Proserpina and Apollo and Daphnae were amazing. I couldn't believe these things were carved out of marble by human hands almost 400 years ago. They looked so absolutely real and dramatic that the scenes had to have been made out of real people frozen in time. It truly gave me real visual evidence of what it means to be Baroque. The Caravaggio section of the gallery was equally impressive; I loved that it took only seconds to realize that a work was done by his hands. The dramatic lighting and realism was so innovative and characteristic of Caravaggio and was accomplished by nobody before his time and probably anyone else to this day.  Again I have loved spending time with my parents and hopefully impressing them with what I remember from my art history classes.

So my parents are leaving Sunday so that gives us one more day (Saturday) to hang out before they go and I won't see them for two months. As timing has it, tomorrow is supposed to be a day of political demonstration throughout Rome and it could get violent. Apparently the same thing happened last year and I've read some stories about mobs of people and police cars lit on fire so this could get interesting...Hopefully it won't ruin their last day here and will only add to the excitement. We'll have to wait and see.

TOSCANA

This past weekend I spent with my parents in a bunch of different Tuscan hill towns which was quite spectacular. Toscana was beautiful both in its picturesque landscapes (it literally looked like a painting at all times) and its medieval/Etruscan architecture. Given my bad luck with cameras I decided to leave mine at home so I am awaiting my parents' photos which I will fill the blog up with later. Overall it was an extremely relaxing weekend, minus a few mishaps with the rental car, and definitely was a nice break from the craziness of Rome.

We left Friday morning from Termini station near my parents' hotel and got in our rental which THANKFULLY had a gps system. Although it took nearly two hours to pick up the car (the line was extremely slow and they didn't tell us where the car was parked!) and program the gps (of course it wasn't in English), we hit the road without any major bumps along the way. It was so nice to travel in a car for once since it is so much faster and more spacious than the crowded buses I am used to. Our first stop was Siena and we spent the rest of our afternoon and night there since our hotel was located just outside the city walls.

We took a bus into town and our first stop was Il Campo, the main square. This was instantly a pleasure on the eyes given that it is a massive cobblestone courtyard. It feels even larger because it has a gradual, bowl-shaped slope that is surrounded by various cafès and a giant watchtower. We got some beer and pizza and sat down and people-watched for a bit. Right away I noticed Siena was full of really cute dogs- many looked a lot like Bello but none could compare to his adorable-ness. The town is immaculately well-preserved, clean, and free from any graffiti much unlike Rome. This is fortunate because it seemed the main focus of the town is ART. Siena is absolutely stunning; nearly every open wall is covered in intricate frescoes and the sloping/windy landscapes make for great architecture full of arches and massive staircases. The weather today was oddly suited for touring a medieval city like Siena. It was mostly grey with big puffy clouds dotting the horizon and I think it was fitting when thinking about life in the "Dark Ages." 

The highlight of the day was our time spent in the DUOMO, the town's cathedral that had been built late 13th century that had been further developed until even into the Baroque. Just looking at the facade made that instantly clear: not an inch of that church had not been carefully designed and executed to the highest possible amount of ornamentation. It was beautiful and I don't think I've ever seen anything so exquisite for the eyes; even Saint Peter's wasn't as ornate and luxurious. With our six euro entrance fee (we skipped the additional museum and other attractions), we got to walk within the Duomo which was just as beautiful as the facade. Everything was decorated and the blue and white marble motif was stunning. I even got to see (although a reproduction) the famed Maestà by Duccio, a proto-Renaissance painter from Siena. Seeing a lifesize image in its original location made all the studying I have ever done on this piece suddenly come to life. As cheesy as it sounds, it finally all "made sense" what my teachers and authors have said about it; the work is truly a masterpiece, particularly given its ground-breaking qualities (it was painted in 1311, almost 100 years before Renaissance artists used the same modeling techniques to achieve this kind of realism). Another favorite part of the Duomo was the Piccolomini Library, a room commissioned by the papal family that incidentally once owned the hotel that we stayed in. This extremely ornate room contained many important manuscripts and had ten stunning frescoes detailing the life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who would become Pope Pius II in the 15th century. All of the scenes were painted by Pinturicchio, the artist that our hotel room happened to be named after. Of course it was amazing to learn a family history while sleeping in the very same place where the members might have once slept.

The next day was very busy! We were in a total of FIVE towns: Siena, Monteriggioni, Volterra, San Gimignano, and Montepulciano. Obviously much of our day was spent in the car driving to the different towns but the windy hill roads were fun to drive on. Each town was similar in its design (main piazza, duomo, watchtower, etc) but each had their own little speciality that helped us remember them. A couple of words on each of these:

Monteriggioni- a very tiny medieval commune that basically consisted of a single castle wall surrounding the few shops and central piazza. We got to walk on the balustrade that overlooked the valleys. Saw a guy literally playing a branch (like a kazoo).

Volterra- ancient Etruscan town with a famous arch constructed in 400 BC. Highlight was our lunch at La Vena di Vino, a tiny enotica (wine bar) run by two brothers with some pretty cool decorum I must say (the ceiling was covered with hanging bras!) 

San Gimignano- another medieval town, a bit touristy and somehow known for its torture museums? Unfortunately I got a migraine so I had to excuse myself from seeing much while we briefly were there.

Montepulciano- place of our hotel, Mueblè Il Riccio (Mueblè the Hedgehog) and known for its Nobile wines. Driving to this location proved to be quite the challenge (a major understatement). The roads were ridiculously windy and nearly vertical at times and the gps was not helping. We eventually made it to our hotel and went to bed after a looong day.

Sunday morning:

We got up relatively early for the hotel breakfast which consisted of home-made pies, bread w/ salami and cheese, and of course cappuccino. It was very light and tasty. Afterwards, while everybody was getting ready I had free time so i climbed to the rooftop terrace of our hotel with my iPod to relax and check out the view. It was a nearly-perfect, 360 degree view and I was quite impressed (I'm all about those panoramic views, huh?) The weather was clear and crisp and I enjoyed watching the people in the Piazza Grande. 

When we were all ready we walked around the piazza near our hotel and adjacent to the duomo. We went into the cathedral which was actually unfinished: the facade was barren and much of the interior was "blank." It was still very impressive and would easily out-do any contemporary American church but since we were in Italy it had a lot of competition. Outside in the piazza was an artisan fair and I randomly ran into my roommate Neil who was on a trip with JCU. He bought an ocarina from the fair which inspired me to do the same. So for 40 euro I picked out a beautifully decorated egg-shaped ocarina (hand flute) that I think was an excellent and functional souvenir that I will hopefully learn to play on a basic level at least.

Shortly after we left for Montalcino, a town known almost exclusively for its Brunello wines. Sunday was much windier and colder than the previous days so we wanted to get inside quickly. Luckily we found an enoteca adjacent to the town's fortress to have lunch at and to try a few wines. The pasta del giorno was really good and I loved my "Super Tuscan" glass of wine. After lunch we were freezing so we decided to leave to get to have more time in Montepulciano. Once parked back in town, we went to two more enotecas which had social and helpful hosts and ended up buying a few bottles to hopefully enjoy in Rome. I then took a lengthy nap and got ready for dinner which was definitely needed given the  feast we were about to have. We went to an osteria, or family restaurant, that specialized in STEAK. I loved its informal arrangement; we sat close and at the same table as an Italian family and an American couple which facilitated some great conversations. That italian kid was molto artistico! He drew some surprisingly intricate drawings of many Lord of the Rings characters that were easily better than what I could draw or anyone his own age.

Then came the food. The osteria has a menu designed to be shared, based on ordering huge slabs of meat to split amongst the table. Our server (who looked like an Italian George Carlin) first brought out our uncooked "chunk" and it weighed 1,750 g- close to 60 ounces!! We agreed on the size and price and he fired it up rather quickly; it came out beautifully rare and tender. I was shocked that we were able to eat virtually all of it and it felt like a huge accomplishment. Overall the dinner was both interesting and delicious; I would recommend it to anyone (except maybe any vegetarian or vegan). Afterwards we just headed home because the town was basically closed.

Monday (today): This morning we got up extra early to drive to Chiusi so I could get dropped off on the train back to Rome to make it to my 12 o'clock class. Like always, I am thrilled to go back to the excitement that Rome has to offer and I can't wait to show my parents around some of my favorite spots. I'm also excited for new places and monuments because there is always more to see in this very special place. 

It's not all fun and games here...

Despite my excitement for my parents being here and the upcoming Amsterdam extravaganza, I can't help but feel a weight on my shoulders about this whole thing. I think myself and a lot of study abroad students are going through this feeling right now; we're beginning to REALLY miss home and realizing we still have over two months to go. I miss the people I love more than any other time in my life and am also missing the many great conveniences of the United States. I want to compile a list of a few of them right now to give whoever's reading this a chance to know that Italy isn't always the bee's knees.


1. The Food: Everybody told me that the food was absolutely excellent here in Italy. Well, after a month here I sadly must say that this is not the case (at least when cooking on your own). The "supermarkets" here don't offer much; I've seen 7 Elevens that are bigger. Everything is SMALL. You can only buy a little bit at a time (for lack of fridge space) and because you have to PAY to use a shopping cart. Yes, apparently the Italians don't realize I would buy more if I didn't have to carry it around in a little basket. Regardless, their selection is, well, pretty lame. I'll admit that I'm not the most creative cook out there but it's pretty challenging coming up with new and affordable meals that don't involve PASTA. Yes it is cheap and delicious here but it get's old fast! Basically all the food sold mainly contributes to Italian cuisines and coming from the U.S. where we can buy anything, it can be a little upsetting. The other day I tried making quesadillas but could only find these flatbreads, which did NOT count for the tortillas back at home. My main beef with the stores here is that if you want anything ethnic (i.e. non-Italian), you have to go to the International Store which offers a small selection of toppings, dressings, and miscellaneous goods that come in small packages at a high cost. I can only fantasize at what I want right now: Panda Express orange chicken, In-n-Out, a carne asada burrito- the list goes on.

2. Public transportation/lack of a car+ parking lots: I guess this is part of living in a very urban area (way more than even LA) but relying on public transportation frankly sucks. I thought it was cool when I got here but it got old fast. The Italians certainly have a "whatever" attitude about running their buses on time and we suffer everyday because of it. Just to be sure I get to class on time, I have to leave 45 minutes to an hour before it starts because the buses are so damn irregular. You may wait 5 minutes or 45 minutes depending on...well nothing, just per chance. You can't imagine how much I miss riding in CARS to get from point A to B. And even if I had one here, there would be no place to park. The Italians are crazy and double-park EVERYWHERE. All I want to do is pull up into a nice parking lot and casually walk into a store here but that is clearly impossible in Roma.

3. The People: The Italians are not nice. I hate to be so upfront but I've kinda come to realize this lately. Yes it is an exaggeration but I have plenty of evidence at this point. Particularly the men are jerks; they have no reason to talk to a foreigner of the same sex and have every reason to talk to a foreigner of the opposite sex. Basically, they're all about creepin' on American girls and saying f u to American guys. That's just what I've seen when I go out at night but obviously it's not always like that. Older (hence more mature) Italians can be wonderfully nice. The gelateria by my apartment is a prime example. My roommates and I have befriended the workers and they love us and bring us free samples of their pastries and gelato whenever we sit down there. Ok so maybe I was more hasty at the beginning of this paragraph but you get the idea.

4. Time change/phone calls/dealing with problems: Yes, I have had a few things happen to me here that I would've loved to avoid but that's life. Calling various help lines at odd hours of the day just to talk to a human being is extremely frustrating (and expensive!). I noticed this when I, like millions of others in this day and age, got HACKED. Some (insert at least 5 expletives) got my debit card number and racked up over $2,000 in bullshit charges in Virginia (?!) So now I am in the process of filing an investigation through B of A to excuse these charges to restore my savings. Isn't that exactly what you want to deal with on a three-and-a-half month trip away from home?

5. Cost of living ($$$!): It is quite expensive living in Italy and the Euro is rough to think about on every purchase. I try not to think about the conversion ratio considering I've saved and worked so hard to get here but it is inevitable. Typically, everything costs the same (the number value) but you have to realize you are almost paying 1 and a half that amount so it can get out of hand quickly. I guess the only thing I can do is avoid buying things I don't need and just be smart about what I decide to buy (don't waste it).

Well, there you go, 5 things that the U.S. is better than Italy and Europe! (excellent grammar). We need to all be proud of the life we have back home. I certainly will as soon as I land in late December. Viva America!!

München OktoBeerfest Birthday Weekend Spectacle of Epic Proportions

I can't believe I got to spend my twentieth birthday in Munich with two of my best friends. I couldn't have asked for more as I finally departed from my teenage years. This weekend was truly unique and I don't want to forget any of it so hopefully this blog and the following pictures will help.

Before going into the day-to-day madness of the weekend I want to first describe the city of Munich, a place I came to love in such a short time. The city is absolutely stunning both architecturally and geographically and it contains some of the greenest and most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. I've never seen so many gardens, trees, and flowers arranged in such a meticulous manner. The architecture is mainly modern and newly-constructed given the fact that the city was essentially rebuilt post-WWII. Because of this, Munich seems to have been planned and regularized to emulate the ideal city lifestyle. Everything is spaced out and it seems to never get stagnant or overcrowded; their public transportation system certainly reflects that. I must say that everything great about Munich is virtually nonexistent in Rome but both cities are of course amazing in their own ways. Rome has the great mix between old and new and it is obvious that its ancient ties prevent it from ever reaching the pristine and well-organized layout of a city like Munich. Regardless of the (lack of) comparison, I am in love with both cities and of course Europe in general.

Now for the fun part. The madness all began on Thursday as we departed from Rome's Termini station at around 8 pm. We boarded the bus and began the rather miserable 12-hour overnight trip to Munich. It took FOREVER.We even had to stop in Florence and wait for more passengers, making it even more crowded and uncomfortable. Even the endless barrage of movies (Blades of Glory, Gladiator, Pirate Radio, etc) did not make it go by any faster. Luckily I was able to nod off for about 30 minutes at a time and made it through most of the night. We finally pulled into Munich at around 9 am and I immediately jumped on the Metro to get to the hostel. Thankfully the subway map was pretty straightforward and I was able to make it to Harras, the stop just blocks away from our hostel.

When I checked in I was surprised to see what GOROD had to offer. We basically stayed in the dorm of a Russian cultural center and school that had rented itself out to travelers during Oktoberest. It was strangely very home-like and I quickly got to know my "roommates" before Eric and Austin arrived.

Pic of the Ikea bunkbeds.

When they arrived, we decided to head right over to the festival to see what Oktoberfest was really like. It was such a huge place (located in Thereseinienwiese, one of the many large parks in Munich) and was a mix of beer tents, food places, and rides.

 Since it was only Friday, we were able to get right into one of the beer tents, which were more like temporary buildings considering they were really well-decorated and could seat hundreds of people.

Festival goers "Prost-ing" (German for cheers)
In order to get service, we had to go outside to one of the biergartens and were quickly delivered our first stein of the festival. Even though it cost 10 euro, they contain about 3 beers and the alcohol content is much higher (about 9 percent), so it's worth the money.

just delicious!
Without going into too many details, we had many a stein and had a great time partying into the early evening. The festival looked even more amazing as the sun went down.

Since we were all really tired from our traveling the night before, we decided to head home on the early side to get a full night's sleep at the hostel. This was very worth it because we were able to get up early on Saturday to do virtually everything we wanted to do.

On Saturday, I experienced one of the greatest and highly varied birthdays of my entire life. There was not a dull moment and I am so thrilled that all of this happened in such a short period of time. As soon as we got up, we hopped on the metro towards the Englischer Garten, one of the largest city parks in the world. We actually misread the map and took the subway a few extra shops north to arrive at more rural part of the park but it was still beautiful and extremely peaceful.

The farm outside the metro station, felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
We basically wandered around the gardens, farms, and forests with no real plan and just took in the scenery of the cool, crisp morning.

Little town bordering the park.
We loved walking around and even walked through some farmland.

Some real organic, German corn.

Even climbed into a treehouse!

One of the many rivers.

The park was beautiful; I could never have seen something like that in the States, let alone California.

After the park we switched it up and went to a very different environment, the site of the infamous Dachau concentration camp. We took the metro and then a bus out to its location which has been converted to a museum and memorial. In a way Dachau was a highlight in its own because it grounded us and reminded us, me in particular, of the freedoms we get to enjoy on a daily basis. The camp was designed to bring terror to its prisoners and the architecture clearly reflects this idea. It mainly consisted of ugly gray concrete buildings and gravel grounds that had virtually no color or signs of life.

It was difficult to stand in the center courtyard, the same place where thousands of prisoners had to stand at attention every day that the camp was in operation. I couldn't help but feel some sort of pride for my family and distant relatives in my past who survived these atrocities. It was mind-blowing to think that such a catastrophic event in our human history occurred just about 70 years ago.

Memorial statue in the main courtyard.

Bunk beds. Sometimes as many as EIGHT prisoners had to sleep in one bed.

Throughout our wanderings throughout the site we read the many plaques that informed us on the history of the SS and the camp, which gradually became more of a hell for the inhabitants. It was fascinating, though equally devastating to read about how the Nazis controlled Dachau's public image with propaganda and by framing it to be much more tolerable whenever any sort of media entered the camp. It really makes you question the power of a dominating party over the media and ultimately the public's opinion of something. These unexpected thoughts made Dachau even relatable to our contemporary political world in an odd way.

Our tour ended when we entered the crematorium, the ultimate site and tragic results of the Nazi butchery. It was extremely difficult to go inside and look at the very equipment responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals, and virtually any type of person deemed intolerable by the tyrants. Although nearly impossible to believe it happened, how could the countless pieces of evidence lead anybody to believe that the Holocaust didn't happen? Those thoughts have remained in my head even through the rest of the weekend although thankfully we experienced many more great things to get our minds off the horrors of Dachau.

After Dachau we devoted the rest of the day towards the festival. On our way over, we stopped at Marienplatz (the City Center) to stalk up on a big meal to avoid the expensive ones at the festival. I loved this area; it was really lively and the architecture was really cool in its Gothic ornamentation.

The Glockenspiel bell tower. So cool to see one in real life!

We found a Bratwurst stand and quickly devoured two brats each that were fantastic. They definitely reminded me of home and are one of my favorite things to grill.

Chowin' down.

After eating, we headed into the festival which was perhaps at the peak of its crowd and it was difficult navigating around and getting into the tents. We realized we wouldn't be able to get in without a reservation but it was okay because the biergartens were available and offered virtually the same experience. We were able to sit down at a table that was full of locals who were our age and conveniently spoke English. They were all really nice and interested in us and practicing their English so we learned a lot from them.

Very nice folks.

After multiple steins, prosts, and drinking songs (we even sang some Beta songs), we said our goodbyes and decided to ride one of the rollercoasters. The Olympia Loop, despite its high ticket cost of eight euro, was extremely worth it; we even sat in the front and got an amazing view of the ride and the festival.

Even though it wasn't as massive as a Six Flags-type ride, our (lack of) sobriety and excitement for being there made it one of the greatest rides of my life. After another stein or two we decided to leave in the prospect of finding CARNE ASADA BURRITOS (according to the Germans who said there was a place near Marienplatz). Unfortunately, all the "Mexican" joints seemed to be closed but luckily we found an excellent substitute: Kentucky Fried Chicken. Because is was my birthday, Eric and Austin treated me to an epic feast of two buckets of chicken, fries, mashed potatoes, and corn. The three of us ate EVERYTHING even though it could have easily fed a family of five.

Triumphant ending of Saturday and the most unbeatable birthday ever.

Sunday was a short but still jam-packed with great sites of Munich that I got to enjoy before getting back on the bus to go home. We got up early and took the metro to Olympiapark, the site of the 1972 Munich Olympics. This was actually my favorite place that I visited while in Munich. Everything was modern and it looked even futuristic; it was hard to believe it had been built over forty years ago.

Even though we only had about two hours to check out the park, we got to see most of it.

One of the buildings with its crazy "roof"

The swimming pool/stadium. Truly "olympic-sized"

Cool, manmade lake. I think it was used for rowing.

Some of the handprints of famous musicians along the lake.

The highlight of Olympiapark was the the Olympiaturm, the Television Tower that is one of the tallest structures in Munich. This was my favorite because we went up to the top and got to see a 360 degree view of Munich that was absolutely breathtaking. The city looked even more peaceful from up here; it was too serene to believe.

Additionally to the great views of the city, the tower has a small Rock'n'Roll museum at the top which housed a few really neat memorabilia.

Elton John's fabulous piano.

Freddy Mercury's HOT leather pants.

Awesomely enlarged photo of the Beatles when they performed in Munich in 1966.

It was a shame that we had to leave that tower; I could've stared at that view all day. Even though I was jealous that Eric and Austin got to stay until Monday, I still was proud of myself for having the best trip possible. We lived every minute that we were there and I wouldn't change a thing.