Shit Happens (Oktoberfest and Embassies)

Tom was very sick when I woke up! Poor guy had caught a bad cold from one of his millions of couchsurfers at his house in the past couple weeks. Dingo was out at one of the tents, so after hanging out for a bit with a sick Tom I went out to meet up with the aussie in one of the beer tents. I found them easier than I thought, and proceeded to participate in the madness!!








this went on from 2 in the afternoon till at least 11pm. I was drunk. I caught the U-bahn home somehow and talked to Tom for a bit before passing out on the floor.

Now the next few days I am going to run through all together because many were horrible and I don't feel like drawing it out. Basically at the 'fest I was told that I only have 90 days total in this "Schengen" zone, and that I will be overstaying when I go meet my parents in Italy. I was freaked and spent all the next day hung over researching this on the internet. There is no consistency on the internet, and most of the articles were from 2007, so it just confused me more. I freaked out more, and decided to catch a ride up with Dingo to Berlin to go to the Candadian Embassy to ask about my options. Dingo was insisting there was a bridging visa I could get to make things fine until after my parents leave. The Embassy seemed to think there was a visa thing too, and wrote the German name for it on a paper and told me to go to a German town hall. I went to one just in time but they told me to go to another office that does those specific visas. They were closed until monday. I was supposed to take a train from Munich on the wednesday, so that was really pushing it. Floh called the office in Munich early on Friday since the Munic office was open on Friday... They said it shouldn't be a problem and to come in on Monday in the morning. I spent a last day in Berlin with Floh, went out to an excellent CS meet up/bar night on the Friday with him...



...and left Berlin yet again on Saturday in another rideshare.

I arrived back in Munich and this time went to meet up with Tom and Jimmi at Oktoberfest instead of moping around. I would have gone nuts sitting around at the apartment, but I was feeling physically ill from stress and didn't drink. We went to the river and watched fire performers which was soothing. Reminded me of home a lot. It got cold though so eventually we went to Tom's.



The next day I hung out with Ali and and got my scarf and computer foot back. We met at Oktoberfest on it's last day, walked around, then went to the city center since Ali hadn't seen it. It was dead because of the 'fest, but it was nice! We grabbed a coffee, hung out, and then I went home to sleep early since the next day I had to go to that office.

I went in super early. I was the first one in an office. I was told there was no visa available to me since I was now already just over my 90 limit by four days (three of which were waiting for the office to be open!). This was very bad news! I started crying a lot asking what I could do to see my parents. The guy said I just had to leave and then I could come back for another 90 days. I was so surprised I didn't believe him. I wanted to see that law. He kept insisting that it's recent but it's the law; that I can leave and come back the same day and I can get another 90 days. I was supposed to be in Italy in three days. I was still crying and he offered to let me talk to his boss, which I did. The boss re-affirmed that I was allowed another consecutive 90 days, and that the law was only a couple months old so it was very new and printed the section off for me (in German). I left in shock. I went back to the house and cancelled my train, bought a ticket to London Stansted and back the next morning. I had asked the boss if I would have problems with immigration with this new law... what if people didn't know? He said I shouldn't have any problem because it's law. Everyone should know. Well I went to Stansted and had to wait for two hours because UK Immigration did NOT know abou the change, and didn't want to let me into the UK if I am going to get refused in Italy and get sent back to them. They tried calling the airport in Italy to see if they would let me in, and after not finding any information, they said they were going to "take a gamble" for me and for them and let me in for the night. They said it was a risk and they hoped not to see me there the next day. I was terrified. I cried the entire bus ride and for a few hours after arriving at Anne's. We went out for dinner and she had me feeling a whole lot better. I had a stamp saying I was allowed into the UK for six months so she assumed that I could just come back to her house worst case scenario. "Shit happens. Nothing you can do now so there isn't much point worrying about it now. You would just come back here".

The next morning I had to take a cab to the bus station since I was leaving so early. I saw two foxes on the cab ride there, which was amazing! I thought it was a good omen on the cab there. I arrived in Treviso and the woman stamping passports smiled, stamped, gave passport back, and smiled. Not a word was spoken except thanks... the whole process took maybe 30 seconds and it was all over.

They stamped the Italy entrance stamp on the same two page spread with my first entry stamp (France from the Eurostar to Brussels), my exit stamp (Munich), and UK stamp, so they either knew and it was fine, or they just didn't pay attention, or they didn't care. I don't know. I was shaking from happiness and relief! I found my bag on the carosel right away which was nice. The bus to Padova was easy to find too, and oohhhhhh man I could feel my heart soaring on that bus ride the whole way!!!! I was going to see my parents for the first time in almost nine months! I was reset!!

Upon reflection of this mess, everyone I dealt with were pleasant and polite to me. Nobody ever made me feel like I was stupid (other than myself); not like the assholes at the USA border did when I was on those buses. The laws here change so often, and I think it's hard to keep all countries informed and up to date all the time... I learned that yes flying by the seat of my pants has been an amazing way to travel, but it doesn't always make things stress free. Sometimes planning and research actually gets rid of stressful situations, and even though everything worked out fine I absorbed what lessons I could.

It also made me realize some other things. I coudn't help but be aware what/who I was thinking about first when faced with the idea of difficulties going back in. You get three guesses.

Back to Munich for Oktoberfest

I woke up early as I was supposed to... I was partially packed already from the night before, minus the bag I left at Michel's of course. I arranged to meet him at his house on the way to the S-bahn, so I had my cereal and took off to Kreutzberg with Floh. I was catching a ride from a far away station, so Floh was coming with me only until Kreutzberg. We got my bag, and ended up being early to catch my train up to the meeting spot.
We walked and hung out in a park for a little while. I was tired and sore so I didn't want to walk far, but I felt too stupid to make hanging out in the park very entertaining. I was not feeling good in general - It was that feeling like you don't think you are showing your best side to someone. I hate that. I can't be interesting all the time, but back home I've known most of my friends for years and years... I know they've seen me at my best and worst and they are still there, so I don't worry about it so much. This retard Leanne moment was rather ill timed since it was probably the last time I'd see this person for quite a while; I was not what you would call happy.

I went to the station and had to spend about another hour waiting for the person to show up. There were three other girls going in this van. One was this fancy dressed up old woman with a rolling suitcase. The other two were younger and had their significant others waiting there with them making out most of the time. I was sitting there on the stairs alone not having the best of times. I fell asleep in the van and arrived in Munich in a sad mood. Tom was out at the river, but had left the keys hidden for me. I wasn't feeling like going over to meet people at the river, so I showered and went to bed early. I was ready to get pissed at Oktoberfest.

"Last Day in Berlin"

the next morning was slow to start. We ate some pastry acquired from the dumpster dive night, and looked for a cell phone for about half an hour. I found it!!! We helped clean up a bit, and eventually left. Here it gets hazy. I remember being in a nice area of town where Floh used to live. I was at a coffee shop and had a milkshake. It wasn't that good. He was going to his roommate's house, and I was going to meet up with Michel for a bit. I went to Kreutzberg and had yet another milkshake with Michel :) We hung out at his house for a little while and he showed me this really cool clip of an Afghani woman. I then hopped over to where Floh was. I left my bag at Michel's though!! Arg!! A couchsurfer was going to arrive tonight, so she came to this other house first. We eventually left to the house to put her stuff down, then went to a local German worker's pub for some authentic old school pub action :)

I had to get up early the next day, so I couldn't go crazy, but I could be a little tipsy... so I hung out and even had a beer afterward at the house. I had to go to bed before everyone else though since I didn't want to be hung over for my five hour journey in a van down to Munich. I was kind of bummed out that my last day in Berlin was barely spend with Floh between me going to hang out with Michel and him staying up to party with the Swiss girl. Turns out it wasn't my last day there anyhow, but you will see.

Trevor Leaves

I wasn't expecting to be able to, but since I had missed rides to Munich etc, I was able to go to Trevor's going away party! I spent some time catching up on the computer during the day, but I made up for my antisocial daylight hours by staying up most of the night partying at Big Pink :) Floh fell asleep of course, but later than normal, so I was impressed with that!




It was good times - I met some people, saw others I might not see for a while, etc. There was no way we were going to catch the night bus back to the house though, so we slept at Big Pink.

Boat Taxi Ride! Ahoy!

I was happy to wake up in the late afternoon to my cereal :) I was not feeling super energetic considering the amount of wine I had the night before, so I wrote some postcards for my Grandma, knitted some of my hula hoop covers, watched a movie with Floh (District 9). Eventually I was feeling like a person again and we went to meet other Florian for a boat taxi ride!! I was happy to be able to tag along since the original invitation was just for Floh.

It was so nice to be on a boat! I was fed cherry tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and beer while we cruised around in the boat taxi.




There is a big river going through Berlin so I got to see a lot of things from a new angle, plus new parts of town. I was really falling in love with the city - everything I saw I liked a lot :) Almost too much. This was already my third time or something in Berlin - it keeps bringing me back!




So after this boat cruise we were invited to Big Pink for a pizza party hehe. We bought some wine and headed over for fooooood :) Floh fell asleep for a while, I talked, drank wine, and listened to music with everyone. This was the household's dumpster diving night though, so eventually they had to venture out and acquire their free food so we took off to the End of the World and manged to watch half a movie I think.

German Poetry Night

I woke up with a craving for cereal. I fulfilled this craving, and went to fetch my shirt from Big Pink! I was told by Trevor of a craft store nearby, so I went to check it out :)

I was feeling crafty after this visit, so I spent time sewing on patches to my backpack, and making earrings. Floh was going out with his schoolmates that night, but there was a poetry night going on that Michel was organizing at a cafe.... I was interested in checking it out. coffee and poetry match well with crafting. I brought my knitting since it was probably going to be mostly in German ("but not all" I thought).

I went down to the cafe, but it was packed! I sat on the floor and knitted, but Michel was far away, and it was ALL in German. It was entertaining enough, but I texted Trevor in an interlude and he was only a few blocks down the road at a grand opening type party that offered free wine.

The key words in that sentence were "free" and "wine". There were a few people there that I knew, so that was a bonus! We drank all the wine and left to go to a different party when the wine was gone :) It was in this underground-type venue on a third floor of some random building. No signs, just had to run in the door once someone came out... Someone was playing "music" but I had no clue if it was a he or she no matter how long I stared. I was happy! Reminded me of the warehouse parties in Vancouver :)

Eventually we were done with this place too, so we went to a house party Michel invited us to, and convinced Floh to come out and meet us :) He did, he drank out of a shoe, and we all hung out on the couch... until we went to get food and catch the U bahn home at who-knows-when. It was an epic night.

Back in Berlin!

Okay so morning finally came and we were able to buy our tickets back to Berlin on an express 6 hour train. We got on this train, which was a much more pleasant experience than my bladder experience of returning like last time. Floh was going to go pick up his glasses vis the barely functioning S-bahn, so I was going to go to the house and try and clean up my mess a little before he got back. I got the keys and instructions on which bus to take.

I found the terminal fine, but didn't know which direction. As I typically do, I went the wrong way. For half and hour or more. I ended up in this random part of town I had luckily kind of been in before, and had to cross the street and catch another bus all the way back to the main station, then all the way to the U-bahn, and then to the house. Whoops.

As predicted, Floh had been home for half an hour already. I had the key to his room, so he had gone shopping and was cooking dinner when I arrived. I started cleaning/laundry.

Rene came over so Floh, Rene, new roommate guy from Florida, and I had a board game night. I had played this sucker before so this time I was ahead for a while, although Floh did end up winning (of course).

Sleep came very easily after the previous train station slumber party.

1000km Long Hitchhiking Adventures

Waking up was easier than anticipated, although dragging myself out to breakfast was interesting. We hung out with Floh's friend for this, but I was falling asleep on the couch so I wasn't contributing much to the conversation. We caught a bus to a spot to hitchhike, and got a ride to Kaunas pretty quickly.

Here in Kaunas we visited another of Floh's friends for lunch. We went out for pizza, and I realized I'd left my phone in the car of the last guy! Shit! Well we caught another bus to another spot, but then the guy called Floh and came and dropped off my phone for me! That was so nice of him!

With all the visiting and my phone loss experience, it was getting late. We caught a ride into Poland, and he bought us McDonalds :) We were now in another spot and it was just getting dark. Within ten minutes a truck stopped for us though, so we were on our way again! Things were going very well!

Unfortunately this is where things went wrong. We both fell asleep and missed where we were going to get out. This truck was on it's way to Warsaw, so we just stayed on and were dropped about an hour outside the city in some suburban town.

Nothing was open for food but we were hungry. We walked until we found a bus stop, and we had to wait there for an hour or something to catch a bus into the city. I was so tired I fell asleep on the bus! We arrived at the central station in Warsaw, and checked when the next train into Berlin was. It was in the morning. We had a night to spend in the train station. woohoo.

The Vilnius Partying Continues :)

I slept in, but it was refreshing. It was nice to sleep indoors in the warmth! We ate a yummy breakfast with Sandra, and went to meet Adam in the city center.

The city is gorgeous! We walked and eventually met up with Adam at this hostel.







By the time we were in the city it was too late to hitch out (plus I don't think either of us were in the mood due to previous alcohol consumption), so instead Floh and Adam went online and organized a CS meeting for the evening.

Three hours of hanging out on internets, talking to hostel people, eating food, and drinking wine later, we went out. Somehow with only three hours everyone seemed to see this message and the meeting ended up being big!






Floh and I found a host in the city center this time, while Adam continued to party it up :) It was going to have to be hitchhiking early tomorrow, so the morning was not going to be fun.

Partying in Vilnius

I awoke to Bob Marley and sunshine! Everyone was packing up to leave.

Thomas was going to stop in Poland on the way back, which was the plan originally, but he wasn't sure where in Poland or for how long... so we opted on finding a new way back. Thomas ended up with a full car going back anyhow so I am happy he got more help with petrol :)

I had the sleeping bag still, and Floh had a big tent so we were set for anything. There was a baptism/going away party in Riga that Adam, Floh, and I were going to attempt at attending but we had to get into Vilnius to take a bus.

We all got rides into the city from people leaving with extra space :)




Floh and I found Adam at this cute patio area of a restaurant. Time slipped by though, so after eating and going for a beer we had to rush to the bus station to see when the next bus left. We had missed it by ten minutes or something, and the next one wasn't until late. There was no way we were going to make it, so we opted for the camping afterparty/birthday party at a bar. We would then have to find someone to host us!

This was also my last day of antibiotics. I was supposed to take my last one that night but I had lost the stupid pill from it coming out of it's bubble thing! I was slightly concerned at first, but I haven't had any problems here a month later so it must be gone :)

I took advantage of my new ability to drink again, and partied at the bar. We ordered pizza there, and Sandra offered to host us. Done and done.





























The next day we were going to try and hitchhike back, but this time I was hitching prepared.