Adventures of NaDave: Dave Germany: 4 (1st beer fest...Bergkirchweih Erlangen)

Day 4 started off much 'simplier' than the previous three days (thank god!). The adidas cafeteria offers breakfast and lunch, so I started eating those meals there to simplify things. Dinner was usually a hodge-podge of things not resembling a meal, but tonight would be different!

I rolled into the office, and started my next daunting task of finding an apartment. After visiting Erlangen and seeing its distance from work, I decided Herzo was where I would want to live. So I first scoured the adidas bulletin board and sent out emails. Then with the help of 'google webpage translate', I tackled the websites wg-desucht, immobilentscout, and quoka. After sending out 15-20 emails throughout the day, I felt great and now was just waiting on replies.

The rest of the day was meeting more people, getting office supplies, and reading Intro paperwork. As the day closed, the group going to the beer fest assembled. We walked out a bus stop at the back of the adidas facility, and caught a different bus line into the city. The bus ended up again at the 'Erlangen busbahnhof', and then we followed the crowd.

We were headed to the Erlangen Berchkirchweih, the largest outdoor beer fest in Europe! Along the way, the group stopped for a quick 'steak in a wrap' and then headed for the beer and music. It was great! We all got a 1 Liter stein of bier (Prost!), found a standing table, then just soaked it in. Beers, benches, songs, schnitzel, wurst, laugenbrezel, dirndls and lederhosen everywhere. And I was meeting new adidas people from all over the world!

As the sun began to set, we moved locations to be closer to the bands. We got a 2nd Liter of kellerbierand everyone was certainly having a good time. We even heard some Eine, Zwei, g'suffa! And naturally after 2 Ls of beer, one has to go to the bathroom. But so do lots of other people. Yet it cost 0.50 Euro to use the provided facilities. So I followed suit with many other locals, and used the natural outdoor facilities. It only took 72 hours into my German adventure to get tipsy at a beerfest and relieve myself behind a tree, ha.

It was getting late, so our group headed back to buses. As we went down the streets, it was with a big, happy group of German speaking. I was numb from the evening, and was able to forget about the current pressures surrounding me. I made it back to my apartment before midnight and plopped into bed.

The past 80 hours had been a series of intense events. Saying goodbyes, being in a new country with a new language, 1st day at work, seeing Pharrell, an introduction PPT, getting registrations and visas, getting tipsy at a beer fest. I was ready for the weekend.