Plisner Fest

As my Aunt pointed out in a blog comment, Czech people drink more alcohol per capita than any other country! Alcohol is ingrained in Czech culture. In restaurants it is more expensive to buy water than beer. I have asked people why this is and the two common responses are: (1) the cost of beer is less than water for Czech pride. (2) why would you want water in a restaurant? While there are many local breweries, Plzen is most known for Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus brands of beer. In fact, they have tours of the factories and museums for Pilsner beer. It is not just a brand, but also a type of pale lager. Therefore, it makes total sense that in Plzen there would be a celebration of their invention.

Pilsner Fest is a two-day music and beer festival that happens every year! I arrived in Plzen just in time to attend! Like many festivals in the US, there are rows of tents selling beer and snacks. They had two main music stages, and early in the afternoon there were competitions on the stages to see who could hold two liters of beer straight out in front of them the longest without spilling. At 7:30 the Czech Olympians (only the ones who received medals) and the entire crowd cheered! There were thousands of people, most of whom were already a little tipsy, cheering each other. In the Czech Republic, it is impolite to take a sip of your beer before you have cheered everyone. There is also a rule that you must make eye contact with the person you are cheering – this meant that I had to stare into the eyes of random strangers!

I went to the festival with a teacher who wanted to meet up with some of her students. All the students I met were male and they were 18 years old, which is the legal drinking age here. We mostly sat under a tent and talked with them. There was an automatic bull machine that was in the shape of a can of beer rather than a bull that the teacher wanted to try. So we all tried riding the beer can. I was getting tired, hungry, and cold, but wanted to wait for the teacher before heading home. So I went and got a snack. Of course, this snack was the highlight of the night! I may be a vegetarian, but I love food! I bought a cinnamon, sugar, and almond covered trdelink, which is a doughy pastry. It tasted almost like an elephant ear (the kind at carnivals and fairs – not the animal). It was warm and delicious!

I was planning to leave at 11PM, so I could make the last tram to my apartment, but the teacher wanted to stay. Around 12AM I asked if she was ready to leave, but she wanted to stay longer with her students because she hadn’t seen them all summer. At this point I felt uncomfortable because in the US teachers never stay out late with young students, and definitely not in a place with alcohol. She asked me if I could get home by myself and I hesitantly said yes. The night bus to my apartment left at 1:15 AM, so I waited a little while before leaving her, the students, and the festival. Two students wanted to leave at that time and I am thankful they did because they walked with me to the bus station, which was different from the tram station!

Unlike when I began traveling (my junior year abroad in college), I was not upset or in shock by these types of events and got culture shock, I was not upset or in shock by these events. I understand that there are different customs and norms. My professor in college who took my senior seminar class out to a bar for our last class was deemed cool, and all the students were older than 21. In a sense, this event was no different. It only felt strange to me because our drinking age is older than that in the Czech Republic and we have different customs.

Na zdravi! (Cheers!)