A band named Bowling for Soup has a song called, "Cold Shower Tuesdays." Here in Italy, because my water heater doesn't really work, I should write a similar song and call it "Cold Showers Everyday." But a cold shower was exactly what I needed on the morning of Monday October 6.

At 6 a.m. I arrived back at my apartment from a crazy 36 hours with no sleep, only to have a photography class three hours later. It takes about 40 minutes for me to get to my school, so, with a cold shower to wake me up and a cup of coffee, I was ready for a day of thoughts filled with my past day and a half.

I attended an event called Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. When most people hear the name Oktoberfest, the first thing they think of is beer. Well, I am here to tell you that this thought is extremely accurate. Besides all the beer, it was one of the best times I have had in my life.

Well, imagine the best party you've ever been to, add people from all over the world, live music with dancing and singing, and beer flowing by the liter and you have Oktoberfest.I don't really drink much, so the beer wasn't the major appeal for me. My boyfriend, Johnathon, told me that I had to go, if for nothing else than to say that I had been. All I expected was a lot of drunk people falling all over themselves. Well, imagine the best party you've ever been to, add people from all over the world, live music with dancing and singing, and beer flowing by the liter and you have Oktoberfest.

The event is set up like a huge carnival. With theme park rides and tons of great food, Oktoberfest offers lots of things to do other than just drink beer. However, the beer tents are the biggest attraction at the festival.

Beer tents are where many people gather and are served beer by the liter with traditional Bavarian foods. Don't be fooled though. One liter of beer cost 9 euros and the food is rather pricey too. But after many people had been drinking, I think they stopped caring about how much money they were spending.

Also, the beer tents are where the party really is. The first tent I was in, Hippodrom, was more of a sit down place. People were mostly sitting, drinking and eating. Supposedly soda and water were offered, but I didn't see either of those anywhere. Music was playing, but most people were talking and enjoying their drinks amid ornate decorations.

After this we moved to a tent called Hofbrauhaus-Festhalle, the famous HB tent. This was a completely different environment than the other tent. Most of the tent was standing room only with bar tables to place your drinks on. Waiters and waitresses walked around selling pretzels about 15 inches in diameter and German doughnuts.

Here everyone was singing along with the music to traditional German songs and some American classics like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. The best thing was everyone was celebrating.

People were so intrigued by the different cultures in the room that it was more of a celebration of diversity than just beer. Everyone kept asking me where I was from and they were so excited that I was from the states.

The event was so fun and exciting that I didn't want to leave. However, when we left at around 11 p.m. on Sunday night, I was extremely exhausted.

Sitting in my photography class on Monday morning, I reflected on my Oktoberfest experience. I realized that the only reason I truly attended this event was to say that I had been there before. This just goes to show that when you try things that you assume you won't like, you might be pleasantly surprised.

I know I was and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.