Germany-Where you learn to love beer.

This weekend I went to Munich, Germany for Springfest/my birthday. For any that don't know, Springfest is the sister festival to Oktoberfest, on a smaller scale of course. It was quite fun and entertaining. I was told if you go to Germany hating beer you will come back loving it, I find that to be true. Granted I didn't hate beer when I went, I sure was not its biggest fan, but two days and around 6 liters later, I was. All the other countries and languages I have encountered so far shard some similarities and I could get the gist of what people were saying, however, in Germany I couldn't understand anything, let alone pronounce anything. The Springfest food was amazing though, an array of sausages, breads, pretzels, many chocolate covered things, sugary sweets, popcorn, and fries. Germans know how to make some good food as well as beer. Friday we arrived and took a train to Munich which was quite fun in itself. That night we went to Springfest rode some of the carnival rides, partied in the big beer tent, and saw a fireworks show from the Ferris wheel. My birthday celebrations began then. It was crazy beer only seemed to come by the liter and by the next day my hand was bruised from holding a beer stein for endless hours. Saturday, also my actual birthday, we went to Dachau concentration camp. Dachau was one of the first camps opened in 1933 and served as a model for other concentration camps, as a result there are more photos and film from Dachau than most other camps in Germany. It was also one of the only camps that was used the entire 12 years camps were operated during the War. My visit affected me more than I expected, it isn't an experience that is easily described, because everyone has their own personal experience with things like this I am sure. In fact, I am not sure it is an experience that should even be described. Regardless, it was quite touching and sickening to me. I had a constant urge to vomit the whole time I was there and felt a little uneasy all day as a result, not exactly how I would have liked to have felt on my birthday, but it is a small price to pay for an experience that powerful. I wouldn't describe it as a positive or a negative experience, but definitely powerful. Just the thought of what happened on the grounds is sickening and to think that it actually happened is even more sickening. I have learned in school countless events during WWII and the Holocaust, but to be in an area where it all happened brings it all to life.
After the camp we went to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. The Hofbrauhaus is one of Munich's oldest and most popular beer houses. The food and beer was quite good, right along with the atmosphere. After dinner we made our way back to the Springfest grounds and had some more fun. The only downside to Saturday was that since it was May Day most things were closed, all stores and quite a few restaurants. Apparently May Day is a much bigger deal in Germany than it is elsewhere in the world, and as a result I was unable to get any souvenirs from my trip. Overall Germany was a great trip and I definitely want to go back, which isn't surprising since I want to go back to everywhere I have been so far.

All the little things

So I have gotten near the end of my time in Italy and I hate that. Since I only have a couple weeks left here my friends and I have been discussing the things that we have missed back home during our time here more frequently. I find it funny because when we have these conversations it tends to largely revolve around the foods we miss from home...and all the other little things. We miss fast food, steak, free refills on drinks, going to the grocery store having a million options and actually understanding the information on the packaging. We miss being able to go pick something up past the hour of 9 pm, taking less than 2 hours in a restaurant for dinner. We miss having a dryer, normal brown sugar, measuring cups, screens on windows, breakfast foods, etc. These conversations rarely have anything to do with the people we miss at home, it always leans towards food. I guess when living in Italy that would be natural. We have gone from having a lot of different food types as options to only have Italian food as an option. Don't get me wrong Italian food is amazing but after months of eating nothing but pizza or pasta I am ready to have some other options. I am also excited about having storage space for my clothes instead of using shoe boxes as drawers.
While I miss the little things from home, I still wouldn't mind staying here longer. After I got to Italy I forgot what it was like back home, it was hard to remember the day to day activities in my life. Now that I am getting ready to go back home, I can suddenly remember all the day to day things and I feel that I have hardly been gone at all, like I was just at home a few week ago. I find that interesting because just a couple weeks ago I felt like I had been away from home for years, like I never really was there but just imagined it all. Interesting how quickly life changes and how easily it can change with your current perspective. It will most certainly be interesting to see how "home" is once I get back, and in time all the little things I miss from Italy. I am very interested to see how I have changed in all the little ways, I know some things about have changed that I can see, but along the way I am sure that a lot of little things about me have changed that I won't even notice until I am back in my native culture and they are much more prominent. I guess I only have a couple more weeks left until I get to find out.