On a crisp weekend in September, many Moore House students embarked on a venture to Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Australia. Originally, we had been planning this trip for the purpose of attending Oktoberfest- a carnival celebrating German tradition. We had been advised to arrive in the early hours of the morning, in order to reserve a table for our enormous group in one of the main tents at the festival, so we tore ourselves out of bed and to the train station at 4 AM. Upon arrival, we were reunited with our Pepperdine friends from Lausanne, Switzerland. As we listened to their stories and spilled on life in Germany, we speed-walked to the festival.
After securing a prime table within a tent, we captured the merriment and ridiculousness around us with hundreds of pictures. However, after exploring the grounds for a few hours, we quickly became exhausted (that early get-up was backfiring). Luckily, we had charming hotel waiting for us in Salzburg.
Groups our students gathered their pretzels, sweets, and souvenirs, and drifted out of Oktoberfest. Completely ready for naps, we checked into our hotels.
After a restful and much-needed night’s sleep, we all felt refreshed and ready for the second part of our itinerary- The Sound of Music Tour. Salzburg is where the timeless flick was filmed, and eager to recreate each famed scene. The six girls and I that signed up climbed onto the tour-bus with hopeful grins- we had prepared by watching the movie back at Moore Haus and had mapped out exactly what we were going to do at each location of the tour. Luckily, our quirky tour-guide was just as enthusiastic as we were, revealing clandestine facts about the motion picture. His animated personality, as well as familiar soundtrack playing on the speakers, made us wiggle in excitement.
Many of us agreed that this tour was by far the most memorable part of the weekend. We were able to hop off the vehicle and explore at multiple stops, so that we could live our childhood-favorite movie. We frolicked in fields, pretended to be sixteen going on seventeen, swung ourselves around like Julie Andrews, and, of course, took more picture (we are 19-year old girls with Facebooks). We even had time to experience a traditional Apple Streussel, drizzled with warm vanilla-bean sauce. Our guide recommended this dish to us. Evidently, our appreciation for him grew infinitely.
We eventually had to say “So long, farewell” to our guide and “Auf Wiedersehen” to Austria. The weekend revealed that the most enjoyable parts of trips are sometimes unexpected- while we started the weekend thinking Oktoberfest was going to be the unforgettable highlight of the year, The Sound of Music tour is what really bonded our group.
