An assortment of things

Sorry, I've been really lazy lately. Here are some snippets as updates.

Oktoberfest

I believe the local Munchers (okay, Munich / Muenchen inhabitants, not sure what they are called...) refer to Oktoberfest as Wiesnfest.. or... something similar. The main point is that I saw Wiesn everywhere.

A couple weekends ago, I went to Munich to meet up with some of the other U of C interns. Well, mostly just one friend that I knew well, but I knew some of the others would be there.

Turns out, just knowing that they exist and half-recognizing faces but not knowing names makes things kind of awkward. That, combined with me being already kind of awkward and not good at socializing, made for a strange combination.

And then you can add on top of that the fact that I was staying in some crazy hostel called The Tent, where you literally sleep in these giant tent-like buildings that have super thin mattresses on some 30 odd bunk beds.

It was quite an experience. Not one that I would fancy repeating again, but an experience nonetheless.

In my unprofessional but opinionated opinion, Oktoberfest was like the Stampede, but much more beer-centered. And it's free to get in (but food, like the Stampede, is ridiculously pricey). Maybe if I liked beer and if I liked to party or if I was just less awkward I would have liked it.

But maybe not.

Nevertheless, an obligatory Mass. I'm a pansy so I had a radler (half beer, half... lemonade. I think.) Also some typical German food, mmm... haha. 

No more beer for us... we'll drink giant bottles of pop instead.

And watch crazy people stand up on tables and try to chug their 750 mL or however much is left in their glass.

One guy had stuff thrown at him cause he was taking too long. I felt sorry for him.

Giant pretzel! Om nom nom.

This was the best part of the whole festival thing, in my opinion. It was some kind of toboggan ride, but to go up, you hopped on this slanted conveyor belt thing that went really fast and a lot of people struggled to keep their balance. I didn't go on because (1) I was almost out of money and (2) it looked scary, but it was mesmerizing to watch. 

The Dutch and the Bicycle - part 2

Just two things:
1) I am totally NOT Dutch yet. Even after more than two months of biking, I still have difficulties manoeuvring.

2) In addition to the young-and-the-fit who blissfully cycle with their hands busily texting someone, there are also a good number of elderly people that I see cycling on a regular basis. What impresses me the most is that these elderly people still ride high -- as in, at a traffic light where they have to stop, they actually hop off the saddle and stand on the ground and then hop back onto the saddle when the light is green. I'm pretty sure if I tried to hop off my saddle, I would hit someone or something.

Nederlands is moeilijk!

I am not sure if I spelled that correctly... but anyway, I have now been taking my Dutch class for 3 weeks? Or 3.5... this is my 4th week. Anyway, the class is going really quickly, but I still feel like I can't say or converse much. Hopefully that will change...

InterGEO

If any of my geo buddies read my blog, just want to let you all know that there are totally jobs out there for us! Just come to Germany! Hahaha.

Look at all that equipment.... and that wasn't nearly all of it at all (I just thought it was funny that there were so many rods. I should have taken some pictures of the tripod stacks too.) 

There was also this one booth that had a woman mannequin with short-shorts modelling their equipment. I laughed to myself. How ridiculous.

Look at all these stands...

Really!

I guess I should have put this picture first... but actually I took it as we were leaving.

OpenStreetMap! Steve would be so proud...

Yeah, so even though this is technically my "field", I just frolicked around like a kid and ate cookies and candy. One day when I go to one of these, I'll be there AT a booth.
Well, probably not. But I might be more knowledgable than I am now.

It was pretty neat getting to go. I got to skip work, and I got to spend some time with the sales guys who I rarely talk to, so it was neat to see their end of the business. And I got food.


Okay, that's probably enough for now. I need to be less lazy about taking pictures -- there were some things that I thought were cool and then I realized I had no picture for it. (It's cause I always think 'well a picture won't compare to the real thing anyway'. Which is true, but it's better than nothing...)