FRIEND OR FOE FRIDAY!!!!

     SOOOO many opportunities to make friends and foes where there is beer flowing.  Check out these people I met in Switzerland and Germany.  At my mother's request, I have changed the format for friend of for fridays.  I hope you enjoy it.  If not, please contact my mother.

1)

FRIENDS!  These were the two cool chicks from Cali that I met in Interlaken, Switzerland, accompanied by my amazing host, Toby. I’m the one in the cowboy hat.  Nothing like walking into a kitchen with these 3 pounding beers and encouraging shots at 3:00 in the afternoon!  So glad I met this crew.  They were so much fun during my first night in Interlaken. 

2)

FOE!  He wasn't a bad guy but was so jealous of this stranger that can surf in Munich’s self-made river wave. How cool is this thing? How random that it’s in Munich. How can there be so many surfers when it’s so land-locked?

3)

FRIENDS!  These are the faces of two brave cliff walkers in Interlaken.  Rayno was our trusted (and unexperienced) guide along the jagged cliffs of Murren.  I am not even half as adventurous as either of these individuals.

4)

FRIENDS!  Mark is my sister’s son’s teacher’s son.  Got it?  It was a distant but vital connection in Luzern, Switzerland.  These two took me to a nice roofdeck bar that overlooked the beautiful lake.  They were loads of fun and very brave for leaving their friends and family in order to gain an abroad working experience.

5)

FRIENDS!  Who doesn't like the Ricola guys??

6)

UNDECIDED- These two hosted me in Luzern and were really generous for doing so.  They took me for a kayaking trip down the river and were really accommodating.  There was something weird going on under the surface though.  They were fluent in English but spoke Swiss German, which made it really hard for me to participate in the conversation.  I got the cold shoulder from her about 94% of the time but then she'd surprise me by saying things, 'I'm really glad you came.'  There was just a weird vibe overall so I'm still undecided on these two.

7)

FRIENDS!  Tabia, Nicole, Kristina and friends offered me a hand when climbing up on their beer bench to join them in Oktoberfest celebrations!  Kristina’s generous dad had reserved a table and they were kind enough to share it with me for my last night in Munich.  What a fun group of girls!

8)

FRIENDS! These guys were awesome. I met them at the Neuschwanstein castle and partied with them at night. They perfected planking abroad- taking pictures of your body as straight as an arrow in random places with the help of your friends. Here’s my planking picture from Oktoberfest.


9)

 FRIENDS! These nice men were from the bachelor party that I crashed. I appreciated them taking me in to their group for a bit.

10)

FRIEND! Any guy bringing that many beers would be a friend but Clancy is even more special than that. He was part of the Aussie crew that I met at the castle and I admired his lofty list of travel destinations over the coming months. I was very lucky to meet this group of guys.

11)

FOES- I met these guys the second night when I was alone. They were hovering the line but I’m going to put them in the foe category just because one of the guys was overwhelmingly drunk.

12)

FOE! For the record, German girls in Bavarian dresses are adorable. American girls that dress up in skanky ‘beer wench’ costumes for Halloween are trashy. And American girls that bring their beer wench costumes to Oktoberfest are idiots.

13)

Kristina’s dad- FRIEND!  This guy was nuts!  But he’s still a good guy!  He was Kristina’s dad and had reserved a table in the HB beer tent for himself, his daughter, her friends, and randomites like me.  What a funny guy.

14)

FRIEND! Erik was one of my Munich hosts.  Here he is riding his kiddie scooter through one of the  main fountains of Europe.  He was a lot of fun!!

15)

FRIEND!  Thomas was one of my Munich hosts.  What a kind person!  He had such a communal sense about him and I felt so safe with him around.  He is a gifted, amateur filmmaker so look for his name attached to impressive films in the future!

16)

FRIENDS!  I LOVE Bavarian dresses!  I wanted one so bad.  These two girls from friends of Thomas and were the prettiest Bavarians in the beer tent.

17)

FOE- This Munich stranger shouldn’t be naked in a public park.  I mean, he looks good and all but it’s not right.  At least put on one of those European banana hammocks.