Freudenstadt, Germany...The Black Forest

Here I am in Freudenstadt. First though Oktoberfest. Well that shit was crazy, and I didn't even go that crazy at the actual Oktoberfest tent areas. First I arrived and just thought I'd walk around there and check it out. It was pretty nuts and just a fuckload of drunk people with some families as well. There were tons of rides like at the state fair that people were riding left and right. All the bright lights of a fair as well, and the rides look pretty damn fun. I came back, sat down at the bar to have my free shot of Jaeger (that was the name of the hostel) and started talking with the guy next to me when the bartender decided to give everyone at the bar a free shot of tequila. The guy next to me was named Mick from Australia and we basically became running mates for the next 2 nights. Our hostel bar was pretty cool and we talked with a couple of Canadien guys there, but when they left to go on a night train we though we'd head out to the actual Oktoberfest. We walked outside and within a matter of seconds 3 drunk Canadien women walked by and started chatting us up. We decided we'd roll with them and that got us about one and a half blocks before we turned around and headed to their hostel bar which was right next door, before a stop off for a shot of Jaeger at our hostel bar. This Wombat's hostel was one of the nicest hostels I've seen with and outdoor type relax area INSIDE and their bar was just a damn good and wild bar. I barely remember being there and somehow I woke up in my bed. I haven't blacked out like that in a while and when I asked Mick about it the next morning he said that he kept buying me beers and shots because he felt like it and that I was keeping the party going for him. So at least it was because a drink was placed in my hand constantly. I didn't puke or anything and I do remember bits and pieces. Plus this guy Mick is more innapropriate than I'll ever be. I did start talking to some girl in (I think this is how you spell it) liederhosen and assumed incorrectly that she worked at Oktoberfest, and she was not too happy about that. But I remember my hangover more than anything.
I took full advantage of the coffee and bread breakfast that morning and then Mick and I headed out to see a little bit more of Munich then just beer. We ended up walking all over the town without trying to. Southwest to Central East and then up to Northwest. We saw the downtown central area and ended in the old Olympic Park area which was amazing. Great park and still beautiful stadiums. Right next to the BMW museum and factory as well. Mick and I talked about travel and family a lot. He met his lady while traveling in Asia and they traveled for 2 months together. She was from England and at the end of that he just said well you want to come to Sydney and give it a try. That was for years ago and now they're engaged witha 7 month old daughter. They were in England for a couple of weeks visitng her family and she agreed to let him get away from Dad and husband to be responsibilities for 3 days so this was his time to pursue as he said was one of his passions, drinking. He's a good guy who was just making the most out of the little freedom he could muster up and he knew what his responsibilities were. After walking around though we were pretty beat and I was still feeling the effects of last night so we decided to just take the metro back. We got separated for a bit because Mick assumed I had taken a nap and he wanted to get to drinking more. So he left a little early and ended up slamming down 5 liters of beer at the beer tents over a period of a few hours. I just made friends with this Indian (the country) dude who is an engineer for Haliburton at their branch in Cairo, Egypt. We hit up the beer tents ourselves but unlike Mick I only had one liter. I came back and talked with some of the people in my room before heading down to the bar. I figured I should make the most out of it, my hangover gone at this point and I knew I was just going to be recouping for the next few days. Who should I run into there but Mick who called me over to buy me a drink and a tequila shot.
We went straight over to Wombat's after that and had another wild night but I didn't black out this time. We met these other Candian/Aussie dudes and dudetes and had some drinks with them. One of the guys got dressed in his friends liederhosen (I think) and looked like a drag queen. Then he took it off and was in his underwear. One of his buddies came up and gave him such a severe wedgie that it ripped his underwear in the back. He decided the only reasonable thing to do was just take of his underwear in the middle of the bar and the thing is it wasn't even a problem for anyone. he put his clothes back on though and it was basically just a giant party. I remember getting home and talking with my roomies Aleisha from Brisbane and Kelly from LA before bed and I woke not in the best shape but better than before.
Now in the Black Forest my plan has been just to recoup and go hang out in nature for a bit. So far I've done all that. That guy David in Luxembourg reminded me that some people go from city to city with no plan as to where they're going to sleep because they like the adventure of figuring it out along the way. The rest of my trip is basically booked so I thought I'd take his view on it here and so I arrived with no destination. I got off the train, got some info and food, went straight to the information area in the middle of the city, got hostel info, b lined it to the hostel and got the perfect hostel for what I'm looking for. I had my own room last night and it looks as if that will continue and all i really want to do is just relax, organize, do some simple vacation things, sleep and see some nature. I've managed to do that so far. I slept a lot this morning. I made a list of things to do today and I've gotten a lot done. A couple of hostel bookings, shaved, showered, reorganized my pack, took care of a lot of correspondence online and posted my resume online at Monster.com as well. I also got a short hike in for a couple of hours. Tomorrow I'll do some more errands and relaxing as well as another short hike. Then On sunday it looks like I'll be able to do a long 28 kilometer hike to the next city, look at that place and then take the 20 minute train back. Then through Switzerland off to Turin, Italy to meet up with my friend Lauren.
I know I was just writing about partying a lot but Oktoberfest helped cement certain things now for my partying habits. For a long while now I've known my level of content with crazy ass partying has been declining. I was generally figuring after this trip I was going to stop going wild like that with such frequency anyways. At Oktoberfest I just fully felt that while I enjoy having drinks with friends and always will I've done enough crazy drunken things in my life at this point that I don't feel the need to keep pursuing that part of my life. I always thought, "Do it now while you're young and it's still a blast" or "You don't want to look back and think that you missed out on that part of life." Well I can say without a doubt that I have not missed out on that part of life. It wasn't just the hangover though, it's been a slow decline. I kind of viewed the trip as a last harrah to these crazy days and I actually thought Oktoberfest might have that effect on me. Plus this whole summer I've been planning things out but working evenings at a restaurant meant I'd get done with work right when people were going out and I didn't have to be at work until 5 or 6 sometimes the next day. This isn't to say that I'll never be drunk again or that I'm going to change my life or the person I am. I will always like going out with friends, I'll be going out while in Europe and back in the States and I will have more wild and crazy adventures. I just don't feel this desire to pursue the wildest party adventures anymore. After 6 years of that stuff I think I can say I've been there.
That aside though I had a nice litte moment while on the hike today. I stopped and had a good German beer under some covering. Just one and just because there's almost always room for a good beer. The Black Forest is beautiful and I was just sitting there enjoying my beer, looking at the scenary and thinking about life. I'm glad to be in Europe and it feels really good to have worked hard to get here and feel like I'm making the most out of my situation and opportunities in life. I always thought it would be awesome to see all of Europe when i was growing up more than any other place and by the end of this trip I'll really have seen a whole lot of it at such a young age. But I'll be glad to get to Chicago and start building something up there. I also always thought it would be awesome to live in a big city where it snowed in my 20's and I'm going to go do that too. Plus even though I'm on vacation and all right now it's been a pretty long break. Not just Europe and my time in the bay and Canada but also the summer. Like I said I was out just having a good time for the whole summer in Eugene. Going to different events and not really having to work that hard. I also went on a kick ass road trip and really just had the exact last 4 1/2 months that I wanted. But there's a certain satisfaction that comes with some good hard at the end of the day or the end of the week or just towards something. I'm feeling that now but I want to knuckle down and just get to work on setting up my life in Chicago. I want to get a job, find a place that I like, get back into the gym and work out mode, explore/get to know the city/ midwest area and start socializing with people that I'll hang out with in a week or more and proably become good friends with down the line. I'm gonna make the most out of my time here but I want to make the most out of the next step in my life as well.
Well that's that. I'm kinda tired right now and I don't feel like editing this so that's your loss. Hope everybody is well and I'll talk to you all when i get back to the States (or online before that).