I'm an American who went to Oktoberfest for the first time. Here are 5 things that surprised me most about the German festival.

I encountered a lot of surprises after attending Oktoberfest for the first time.

Emily Pogue As an American who went to Oktoberfest for the first time, I encountered lots of surprises.

Chugging beer and standing on tables will get you kicked out, but dancing on the benches is OK.

I was surprised to find there was a full carnival outside the tents.

As a beer aficionado , I've been to my fair share of brew festivals throughout the US, several of which were "Oktoberfest" themed.

So, when I booked a trip to visit Oktoberfest in Munich a few years ago, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

However, after just a few steps into the roughly 100-acre festival, I realized just how special it really is.

Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Louis I (the crown prince of Bavaria) and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, and is now celebrated every year in September and October.

Today, people from around the world travel to the festival to celebrate German culture and, of course, beer.

In fact, last year's festival approximately 6.5 million people.

Here are the five things that surprised me most when I attended Oktoberfest for the first time.

The locals wear vests with their lederhosen, not suspenders Nearly everyone at Oktoberfest dresses the part — wearing traditional Bavarian lederhosen outfits for men and dirndls for women.

My husband was sporting the lederhosen we'd always seen with leather suspenders.

However, we quickly noticed that many of the men were wearing vests with their leather shorts instead.