Gautschfest 09

The last two days have been pretty cool, and an experience that has taught me a lot about the people of Germany and the character of the country itself. As I mentioned, I was going out to experience the nightlife of Augsburg. Last night, I went to Maxfest, which is situated in the city of Augsburg, the "province" of where I am staying here in Germany. Think of it the same way of the "Midwest" (Augsburg) and "Illinois" (Konigsbrunn). The festival is held every year and Max is a name of the largest street in town. Every street in the area was shut down so people could walk and bike etc around town easily. Every festival here seems to deal with beer, but more importantly, it signifies a time to go out, have a great time and be surrounded by good people. One of the strangest and things that reallly caught me off gaurd were two huge differences from here and the states. Upon walking into the center of town (the picture below) there were groups of kids that were no more than 15/16 years old just hanging out, talking and drinking beer. I was different, but I realized the difference in culture and expectations of alcohol from Europe to the US. It actually seemed like a really cool concept for these kids to just be sitting in a huge open area with their good friends enjoying a few drinks. Secondly, before actually entering the Maxfest we stopped at a bar for a few drinks with friends. When told we were going to the main entrance, I chugged my drink so I could be on my way. Little did I realize, you can walk with open containers here...something that blew me away...too bad, learning experience, and a full belly.

Back to the fest, when talking to people and friends of my cousin Simone, I likened it to Taste of Chicago, but it was with bars (though not as many)..and the street is a lot cooler and older. The beer over here is really good as suspected, and hits you pretty hard if you're not used to it. After a long night, I headed home and used skype for the first time...If anyone has skype, find me...I would love to talk (Byrnie18). Today I woke up with little sleep and headed to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. To be honest, seeing a Chinese individual speak German was something I never expected to see... The food was halfway decent, nothing special but it did the job. After lunch, we came back to me aunts house and I spent the majority of the day on the computer looking at pictures of family and Loyola...showing my family where I went to school etc...pretty fun. Around 6 we all left for Gautschfest 09. Now what I can compare this to is the Frontier Days and BG days of the northwest suburbs of Chicago. A small carnival type atmosphere with rides and drink. Except as expected, this had a huge beer tent. As I was saying, these festivals are eye opening to the culture of Germany. Everyone here is so happy and relaxed. Everyone constantly has a smile on their face and genuinely seems to be happy with life when surrounded by the company they enjoy (See video). Nobody cares for other opinions when it may interfere with fun and everyone dances as if nobody is watching and lives life as if there is no tomorrow. It's a great sight and an example for most of us. As you can tell from the pictures (Myself, my cousin Bernd and his girlfriend), the steins were huge and to say the least, it was fun. Tomorrow, I am off to play a pick up game with my cousin so I'm excited about that. However, a night is not complete without some rides, Wii and a good nights rest...the latter I'm about to do. Hope all well back home and hope to talk to you all soon. Brian