Oktoberfest

* September 20 - October 5, 2008

* ~6.2 million visitors

* 103.79 acres of festival grounds

* 521,872 chickens served

* 142,253 pork sausages

* ~ 950 million EURO spent during 16 day period

* 450 million EURO on food, drinks & entertainment

* 205 million EURO for shopping in and around Munich

* 300 million EURO spent for hotel accommodations

* 12,000 people employed 

* ~100,000 seats in the festival halls

* > 7 MILLION LITERS OF BEER SERVED

Welcome to Oktoberfest, held in Munich, Germany and this is where I was this past weekend.

Copenhagen (Blue) . Zurich, Switzerland (Yellow) 

Munich, Germany (Red)

The weekend started Thursday (9/25) when Alex and I met at the airport for our 20:00 flight to Zurich, Switzerland. Upon arrival we grabbed some dinner and then scouted out a place to crash for the night. After surveying the airport, we decided that the "couches" outside of the Starbucks looked the most comfortable. We played some cards and then called it a night, however we were unaware that the night-time custodial crew would be deep-cleaning our little section of the airport! So needless to say, we didn't get much sleep and to make matters worse, we were woken up at 5 am by the Starbucks employees! We ordered some coffee and then went to our 7 am flight to Munich.

We arrived in Munich, Germany at 8 am on Friday morning (9/26) and took the German S-bahn train to the central station. On the train we me these two guys from LA who flew into Munich that morning for Oktoberfest (that's dedication!). We transfered onto a local train and showed up to the hotel at 9:30 am. After taking showers and changing, we got back on the subway and headed for Oktoberfest!

Rising out of the subway via escalator I was shocked at the sheer massiveness of the festival! There were thousands of people everywhere I looked. Alex and I went to the Hippodrom Tent (one of the more traditional tents at Oktoberfest) and we were seated at a table with two Italians and four Germans. Our waiter brought us each a liter of beer and the festivities began at 10:30 am! 

Around 14:00 Brandon and Nate (friends from Cal Poly who are studying in Barcelona) arrived and took a seat at a nearby table... The hours went by and by 19:00 we had drank a sufficient amount of beer and decided that we should head back to the hotel. We went to the pool and then took a much deserved nap. We woke up around 22:00 and had dinner / investigated the hotel lounge.

Day 2 (Saturday 9/27):

We somehow woke up at 07:30 and were out the door by 08:30! We arrived at the festival around 09:00 and repeated from the previous day. The tents that we visited on Saturday included: Hafbrau, Schottenhamel, Schutzen, and Lawenbrau. We spent the majority of our time at Schottenhamel and Hafbrau. Then after another FULL day of drinking we headed back to the hotel for another power-nap. Around 20:00 we woke up, got dressed and took the train to downtown Munich for dinner and clubbing. We had the most amazing meal at this traditional Bavarian restaurant. After dinner we met up with Allison (a good friend from Cal Poly) and some of her German friends to check out the club-scene in Munich. It was really good seeing Allison (see is studying in Pau, France for the semester). Then in the wee-hours of the morning we dragged ourselves back to the hotel.

Day 3 (Sunday 9/27):

Brandon and Nate woke up around 08:00 and headed back to the festival, as their flight back to Barcelona did not depart until 21:00! Alex and I on the other-hand, slept in, checked-out of the hotel, cruised by the festival to buy some souvenirs, and then took the train to the airport for our 14:10 flight back to Copenhagen.

Waiting to depart Copenhagen

Sleeping Arrangements in Zurich

So comfy!

Yea, we got umm maybe 30 min of sleep

Arrival in Munich, Germany

Hotel Room -- should be able to fit 4 guys on 2 twin beds

Oktoberfest!

Every German was dressed in traditional German clothes

I was so jealous

Hippodrom Tent

Inside the Tent

Beer #1 of ???

Cheers

Live Band

Our Table

Alex . Brandon . David . Nate

Reunited in Germany

Schottenhamel Tent

A lot of people (some 6,000+ seats in this tent)

Ridiculousness 

Outside of the tents - still daylight

Train ride back to hotel

** DAY 2 **

Haf Brau Tent

Server

We sat outside for a change of scenery

10:30 am

Lunch Break

Waitress that got us into Haf Brau Tent

She loves me

Such good music in the tent

Huge

Not 1 empty seat

Nate & Brandon

Saturday Night Dinner

Amazing German food

We met up with Allison!

At a German Club

Happening place

Our flight back to Copenhagen

Overall, we had an amazing time, drank a lot of beer, didn't sleep, spent a lot of money, and experienced the largest beer festival in the world! If you ever have the opportunity to make it to Oktoberfest, GO! it will be an unforgettable experience.

Biking on Bornholm

This past weekend I went to the island of Bornholm with DIS. The island is located in the Baltic Ocean between Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Germany.

We departed Copenhagen on Friday the 19th at 23:30 from the ferry terminal. We then set sail for the island of Bornholm. We arrived at 06:00 very sleep deprived. We were then bussed to the youth hostel and fed breakfast. After breakfast they gave us mountain bikes and we were set loose to explore the island and all that it has to offer. On Saturday we biked north to the tip of the island, and on Sunday we biked south to where they have a very nice white sandy beach. Our weather was ideal and I had a great time exploring this island. Highlights include: the baltic, the microbreweries scattered throughout the island, the round churches, the pancakes, the glass (they use their own sand to make the most beautiful glass i've seen), and so much more.

Arrival in Bornholm 06:00

Amanda . Anthony . David . CJ . Tim

The Northern Tip of Bornholm

Lunch on Saturday

1 of 4 famous Round Churches

The Southern Sand

We're sooo excited!

We departed Bornholm Sunday night at 23:30 and arrived back in Copenhagen at 06:00 on Monday morning, then I had class at 08:30! I took a nap after class on Monday, but it turned into sleep because I didn't wake up until the next morning! Overall, Bornholm was amazing!

As I type this entry I am packing my bags again because in 4 hours I will be departing Copenhagen for Munich, Germany with Alex (roommate from Cal Poly who studies at CBS). We are going to Oktoberfest and meeting friends from Cal Poly, Brandon, Nate and Allison. I'm so excited! Well, I have to eat dinner and finish packing - have a great weekend and I'll be sure to drink a beer for each and everyone of you!

Class

I have yet to tell you about my classes and academics, so here it goes:

Monday:
8:30-9:50 European Business Strategy
1:15-2:35 Danish Language & Culture
2:50-4:10 Creative Industries: Business, Innovation, Politics & Culture

Tuesday:
11:40-1:00 Russia: Past & Present
2:50-5:45 International Financial Management

Wednesday:
Field Study (Visits to local companies, institutions, culture etc...)

Thursday:
8:30-9:50 European Business Strategy
1:15-2:35 Danish Language & Culture
2:50-4:10 Creative Industries: Business, Innovation, Politics & Culture

Friday: No Class

That is my typical week, the only difference between my classes here and my classes back home at Cal Poly is the amount of reading that we have here; it is probably 3x as much reading as Cal Poly. Also, most classes here only have a midterm, a final and a paper or two.

The Wednesday field studies have been very interesting so far. For instance, just yesterday we went to Tivoli for my Creative Industries class because we are studying the "Experience Economy," so DIS bought us all passes to the theme park and called it a field study.

I will try to take some pictures of where I go to class next week. The school is located in the heart of downtown Copenhagen, which is nice because it is only a 10 minute bike ride to class for me.

I leave for the island of Bornholm tomorrow (Friday) evening at 9pm. We are taking an overnight ferry to the island. Then we will have all day Saturday and Sunday to explore the island. We then take a night ferry back to Copenhagen on Sunday and we will arrive back in town at 7am Monday morning. Hopefully the weather will be nice for us this weekend!

Ringkøbing & Skanderborg Western Denmark Study Tour

I just arrived back from a 4-day Western Denmark study tour with my International Business Core Class. The purpose of the trip was to gain first-hand insight and a better understanding of business strategies using visits to 3 companies and to experience various aspects of Danish culture outside of Copenhagen.

Wednesday September 10:

Visit to the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange in Copenhagen - we were given a presentation by their Communications Manager who explained how the NASDAQ OMX Group Inc., serves as a central gateway to the Nordic and Baltic financial markets.

Outside of the stock exchange

Thursday September 11:

A: Copenhagen   B: Silkeborg Art Museum 

C: Jyske Bank A/S   D: Ringkøbing

Thursday we left Copenhagen at 9:00 via bus and head towards Jutland (the large land-mass to the west of Copenhagen). Our first stop was the Silkeborg Museum of Art in Silkeborg. The museum has a large collection of art from both Danish artists and a selection of artists from Eastern and Western-Europe. We were fed lunch in the museum cafe and then given a short tour, followed by some time to explore the museum on our own.

Artwork

Sculpture

After visiting the art museum we headed 15 minutes west to the Jyske Bank Headquarters in Silkeborg. The bank started in 1967 when 4 local banks in Central Jutland merged to gain a competitive edge within the banking sector and formed Jyske Bank. Today they operate 119 Danish branches, making it the second largest independent Danish bank. We were given a presentation and tour. In 2006, Jyske Bank introduced a complete remodel of their banks (basically made every bank look like an Apple store). They are trying to break away from the typical "boring" bank and make their banks more of an experience by incorporating a free coffee and tea area, a small library, and they eliminated the counter found at most banks and installed modular tables).

Jyske Bank

Headquarters

Awww. The Trading Floor (my dream)

Inside the branch (notice the modular banking counters)

Notice how it looks like an Apple store

After the Jyske Bank presentation and tour we got back on the bus and went to the Danhostel Ringkøbing. We had dinner as a group at the Hotel Ringkøbing, where we enjoyed a traditional danish meal: herring, shrimp, pan-fried meat balls, brie and crackers and for desert we had amazing waffle cakes.

Hotel Ringkøbing -- Dinner

Ringkøbing Harbor

Statue

Friday September 12:

A: Ringkøbing   B: Vestas Wind Systems

C: North Sea   D: Skanderborg   E: Århus Theater

We began the day by visiting Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which is the world-leader in wind power with over 20 years experience. They currently hold 23% market share and have installed more than 35,500 wind turbines in 63 countries on 5 continents. In fact, their windmills generate more than 60 million MWh of energy a year. 

A few more interesting facts:

* 1 of their windmills can produce enough energy for the lifetime of one household in 2 hours.

* Each year a Vestas windmill produces the same amount of electricity as 7,598 million barrels of oil.

* Every 4 hours, Vestas installs a new windmill

We were treated like royalty at Vestas with a presentation by their CFO, a factory tour, lunch, and given a recruitment speech (they plan on hiring 28,000 new employees in the next 5 years and are building new facilities in China, Cananda and the US (Colorado)). Overall, we had a great visit to Vestas Wind Systems.

Vestas Wind Systems, Ringkøbing

Presentation

Factory Tour

The Nacelle (Holds the turbine, generator & blades)

Standing in front of the Nacelle

Tour of a local Vestas wind farm

After touring the windfarm, we made a quick stop at the North Sea or "Vesterhavet" where we were able to dip our toes in the frigid water! We even saw the remains of barracks from the 2nd World War.

Kartik and Yours Truly

Barrack from WWII

After a great day at Vestas and the North Sea, we drove 3 hours East to the second largest city in Denmark, Århus, where we had tickets to "The Beach Boys in the Wild Wild West." And yes it was awesome! Click on the link and you'll see some video footage of the performance. Just think, beach boys meets the wild wild west with Danish humor. It was very bizarre, but so different and unique. I loved it.

Teaterkoncert!

Århus Theater

After the theater performance we headed back to Skanderborg, where we had a bondfire at the hostel. 

Skanderborg Hostel (felt like a summer camp)

The lake that the hostel was located on

Saturday September 13:

A: Skanderborg  B: Odense

C: Copenhagen

Our last day of the study tour was the cultural day, so we stopped in Odense to visit the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, who is a worldwide acclaimed poet and writer of fairytales (including the little mermaid). The city was essentially a tourist trap! 

Church where H.C. Andersen was baptized

The house where H.C. Andersen Was born

Statue of H.C. Andersen

Tour guide explaining one of the fairy tales

The Ugly Duckling -- Lunch

Typical Street

After spending the afternoon in Odense, we departed for Copenhagen. I had a great time on the study tour and definitely learned and saw a lot! This will be the same group of people that I will be traveling to London/Brussels with in 3 weeks! I am really looking forward to that trip, as it will be a week long and include many company and cultural visits.

I have classes all this week, with a morning study tour to Tivoli on Wednesday for my Creative Industries class. Then on friday I leave for the island of Bornholm for the weekend.