Another year which will rapidly pass by…

My name is Catherine. I was born and grew up in Antwerp, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. But here I am, in my final year of Master, in Germany again. As I’ve always been keen on discovering new places, I already did an Erasmus semester in Brandenburg an der Havel (one hour by train from Berlin) when I was in my third bachelor year. Two years later, I felt myself again with the desire to travel abroad, especially since it would be the last chance in my life to do an exchange semester.

Why Munich? To my mind it is a place where I can combine different things which are important to me: Here I am close to nature, but also to a part of my family, who lives in the north of Italy. In other words to some of my roots. And last but not least: Germany in general is a country with a myriad of working but also leisure opportunities, where I eventually see myself living and working for a while. That is also why I am planning on doing an internship in the second semester.

However, despite having travelled in multiple countries so far and being in Munich at present, there is not one single place which makes me feel as happy as Tomorrowland. Each year, people come from the four corners of the earth to take part in this Belgian festival. The reason of its success is, next to the wonderful music, the fact that it proves that we are all equal and able to live together in peace, no matter our nationality, gender, race and so on. I hope that one day these values will prevail in the whole world, rather than just at a festival. Furthermore, I hope that my year in Munich will be a fruitful one, where I will continue meeting kind, open-minded people, and where time will for once not pass by too quickly!