A Reunion Like No Other

October 08, 2019

For the weekend of October 4, majority of the Loyola students in Greece were either going to Oktoberfest or Mykonos (since many of them went to Oktoberfest the weekend before). So sadly, our group was being split up, but another reunion was coming.

To start off, myself and about eight other girls slept over in one tiny dorm room to make the trip to either the airport or ferry easier to travel together. Going to sleep at 1 a.m., I woke up at 3 a.m. to leave for the airport with Allie, Sarah, and Cooper for our 5:35 a.m. boarding time.

We arrived in Munich, Germany at about 7:35 a.m., taking into consideration the time difference. The airport in Germany was hands down, the biggest airport I’ve been in. It reminded me of a mall. Here, we met up with Loyola students who were abroad in Rome, Spain, Germany, and Cork, to name a few. It was a Loyola reunion. Everyone was running to their friends with open arms, and some even shed a few tears.

Some of us split ways, while me and three of my friends Kaylin, Maddie, and Claire took a taxi to our Airbnb we were sharing with about 14 other Loyola kids who we hadn’t yet met up with. The house was a cute little cottage, in the countryside about twenty minutes from the airport. The downside to this location is that it was a little over an hour away from Oktoberfest. Do you hear that? Yes, that’s my bank account and my sleep schedule crying.

The next morning, we set our alarms for 5 a.m. to start getting ready and leave by 5:45 a.m. to hopefully be waiting in line for Oktoberfest at about 6:45 for the doors to open at 9 a.m. But, because our airbnb was so out of the way, when we called taxi’s they either hung up the phone on us because they didn’t speak English, or they refused to come get us that far away from Oktoberfest. Our tight schedule was ruined.

We finally were able to get a taxi to come pick up the last five of us from the Airbnb at around 7:30 a.m. Obviously, we arrived at Oktoberfest later than expected, meaning we weren’t close to the beginning of the entrance line. Waiting in the cold rain for over an hour, we finally made it in and sprinted. Yes, a full-on sprint towards the tent where all of our Loyola friends already were. Thankfully, some of our friends already claimed a table and we were able to squeeze in. I even ran into some friends who go to The American College of Greece with me and our other Loyola friends met up with some of their hometown friends. Our tent was an even bigger reunion than the airport.

The festival was filled with soft pretzels bigger than my head, the best tasting pickles I’ve ever had, and more alarming amounts of other German themed food being carried around in baskets for sale. There were carnival rides and different stands selling a variety of food and souvenirs. We spent our time in the huge tent for around eight hours mingling and celebrating with one another. I loved seeing everyone, especially in their dirndl dresses and Lederhosens.

While there were downsides to Oktoberfest, like the very forward European men and location of the Airbnb, I find the good to outweigh the bad. I do wish I had more time in Germany to explore but that 170 Euro taxi clearly held me back.

Oktoberfest, I will be back once my bank account recovers. Maybe for a ten year Loyola reunion.