Oktoberfest

Friday night the German IO (International Officers) students had an Oktoberfest celebration at the Officer’s Club. Our friends from Colombia, Mauricio and Olga invited us to join them. The banquet hall was lined with posters of Germany and past Oktoberfest gatherings, there was a band, games (log chopping races & the traditional hold the full stein out with a straight arm for as long as you can) and tons of food!

A buffet including Sausage, Schweins hax’n (rotisserie pork hocks), Schweinbraten (roast pork w/sauerkraut), Jager Schnitzel (pork schnitzel with a creamy mushroom sauce though I'm pretty sure this was chicken), Blaukraut (braised red cabbage), Bratkartoffel (German fries), Knoedel (giant dumpling), Spatelse (German wine), Beer, German Breads and Apple Strudel in Vanilla Sauce.

Frankly, this is not my favorite type of food, but it was fun to sample it all. The sausages with mustard were good, as was the Apple Strudel, but really the highlight of the evening was just chatting and meeting some new people.

Around the table were Vincent (from Virginia), Mauricio (for family reading this, he reminds me a lot of Serge!) Brawni (Vincent’s wife from Thailand) Olga, me and Tom, then Nrdec (pronounced "nu-retz") & Alma from Albania. I will admit I had to look up Albania on a map. I’m hoping that getting to know all these international students will make me less geographically challenged!