Well I'm back from Munich and 23 years old. I remember in the 5th grade when my favorite song was Blink 182's "What's My Age Again?" and I walked around shouting "nobody likes you when you're 23" like the day would never come, but here it is and I'm feeling good and lovin' life and I think there's at least a couple people out there that like me, so there.

Munich is a 2.5 - 4 hours drive from Karlsruhe totally dependent on traffic and construction. Yes, it is true - you can drive as fast as you want on the Autobahn, but only some parts and the traffic jams are just as epic as any I'd encountered in Houston. We left early Friday morning to take advantage of the entire weekend in Munich. After checking into our hostel (would stay there again, particularly for Oktoberfest or Frühlingsfest), we set out to explore the city on foot and hit up the usuals: Marienplatz, English Garden, surfer's bridge, etc. Then, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for our dinner reservations at Hofbräuhaus. Yes, it's about the most touristy thing you can do it Munich, but also a ton of fun and believe it or not, it's not just filled with tourists. We shut down the place and headed home for the beerfest in the morning.

Frühlingsfest is basically a miniature Oktoberfest. It's held at the same location (Theresienweise) and has rides, beer tents, traditional german bands, Bavarian food, people dressed in tracht, etc. Oktoberfest is an insane amount of people and can be hard to find a table (read: nearly impossible), so if you are looking for a German festival experience, Frühlingsfest is a great alternative. I actually reserved a table upfront with Hippodrom for free and it worked out perfectly. At beer festivals, you must have a seat to order food and drink, so it's pretty key to have a home base, even though it's a guarantee you will meet people and end up table hoping.

After hours of beer drinking, roast chicken eating, dance-and-sing-a-long-ing, we headed back to hang out and grab dinner at a burrito place we spotted the day before. It was called Pure Burrito and if you are in Munich and dying for anyhting that remotely resembles authentic Tex-Mex, you must stop here. It's a straight up Chipotle knock off (or maybe Chipotle knocked it off, but doubtful) and it was DELICIOUS - served my taste buds right.

I probably have about 2% of y'all's attention left and since everyone is probably here for the photos (all 1 million of them), here ya go:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] It was a bit of a full car.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Always good when someone takes a photo of the hostel you are staying in just in case of Emergency and it actually comes in Handy.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Odeonsplatz[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Friends in Munich pre-birthday dinner at Hofbräuhaus[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Simon and the girls at Hofbräuhaus[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] It wouldn't be a party in Germany without Jäger shots now would it?[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Traditional Tracht[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Dirndl[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Thank you, Simon for my wonderful birthday present![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] So happy to have them in my Karlsruhe life.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Met at Oktoberfest, reunited at Frühlingesfest[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] ValPal and me at the fair[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Reservation for Frau Butts, yes![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] luckily this random British guy bought this photo for 7.50 € so we could take a photo of a photo for our keepsake[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Me and my cousin Katharine - we never see each other in the US but somehow manage to meet up in Europe. I love Europe like that.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Oh boys... classic[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] So colorful Hippodrom is![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Sam, you gotta get yourself some Lederhosen![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="642"] Totally normal to do to someone you just met... sorry Melissa![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] The birthday cake Lauren made me my dream birthday cake that I'd pinned forever ago: snickerdoodle cake with brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting. So good![/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="960"] The best part of staying in hostels - piling on bunk beds and chatting. Please ignore my massive rat's nest.[/caption]

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! It was absolutely perfect and such a special birthday away from home.