Today was our free day. AJ, Bob, and I were invited by some of the German students to go to a festival in Erlangen, a small city North-West of Nuremberg. The plan was to drive there around 2:30 with Melanie and Stefanie and then take the train back. We had heard that many people at the festival would be wearing traditional outfits, with men wearing lederhosen and the women in dirndls. So, to experience as much of the culture as possible, we decided we had get some lederhosen. Lucky for us, the girls had helped ask around for us, and had gotten 3 pairs of lederhosen for us to wear. We went over to Steffie’s apartment and tried them on which was very entertaining. Once we learned how to put them on and figured out which fit who the best, we headed out to get picked up.
The five of us loaded into Melanie’s car, with Bob, being the biggest getting the passenger seat, and Aj, Steffie, and I in the back, with me in the middle seat. It was supposed to be a 2 hour drive from Augsburg, however we hit traffic right away. After we had been driving for over an hour, we realized that we had been driving the wrong way. We then corrected our course but eventually hit more traffic. I got to experience the autobahn for about 5 minutes and went about 115 mph. The drive that was only supposed to take 2 hours ended up taking 4 hours. The lederhosen were surprisingly very comfortable during the ride and we arrived around 6:30pm. The festival was filled with food stands, games, and amusement rides and it was absolutely packed with people. We decided to go on a ride that took you about 200 feet in the air in swings and spun you at the top of the tower. The view was amazing and I loved every second of it, but I can’t say the same for Bob, who got on, even though he is afraid of heights. The live bands started playing later in the evening and played a lot of American songs.
The bands stopped playing at 11pm and as soon as they stopped playing, it was time to go. We had a train to catch. Along with thousands of other people, we headed for the exits. We ran from the festival all the way to the train station. We needed to catch the train in order to catch our connection in Nuremberg to get back in time before we left for the airport. We got on and made it back to Augsburg in one piece. We returned our lederhosen and said our final goodbyes. This really was sad and I wish we had another 2 weeks. I got back to my hotel room and by the time I began packing and showered, I had to be up in 20 minutes. I set my timer and went to sleep for 20 minutes before getting up again to finish packing. I made it to the lobby on time.
