Having spent the past month preparing for Oktoberfest, I was beyond excited to don my Lederhosen and go out into the wonderful world of German songs, food, and beer. I had spent so much time learning the songs, practicing my German, and thinking about what food and beer I would drink that I really couldn’t wait to reap the rewards of my work.

My friends and I woke up early in order to get to the fest on time to get a table and took the train into Munich along with a few other Oktoberfest goers. On the way there, we looked up some information about the tents (we used this website which was pretty useful) and settled on going to Schützen-Festzelt for its mix of authentic Oktoberfest food and great music. By 9:30 am we were in line for the tent, and by 10 am we were inside buying our first beer. We spent the day drinking beer, having fun, talking, eating, and singing along to the few Oktoberfest songs we knew together. In the evening, we left and went on some rides at the amusement park part of Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest was one of the most memorable experiences that I have had so far in Europe, but the best part of it was that the entire day I got to practice my German. Either when I was ordering beer for my friends or speaking with my girlfriend and her friends, I had a chance to use the German skills that I had developed at DeutschAkademie to interact with other people and really feel like I belong in Germany. I won’t lie, taking the intensive German course for a month at the DeutschAkademie was difficult at times and very time consuming, but it was all worth it when I was able to order all my food, pay for it, ask for recommendations, talk to some strangers, and talk about myself all in German. It felt like after a month I had progressed so much in my understanding and speaking ability and I know I wouldn’t be here without the help of the DeutschAkademie.