Looking Back to Look Forward

New year, it’s a time for resolutions and new beginnings. Maybe you will finally join that gym or start drinking green smoothies every morning? I never really make new year’s resolutions, as I don’t see the point in waiting till a day in January to make a change in your life.

Making changes in your life, is what keeps life interesting in my opinion. Routine, mundane tasks and repetition dull the brain but new spaces, exciting challenges and different environments keep you on your toes. What better way to mix it up a bit, than to do a semester abroad.

As I look back after four months of living in Germany, it’s time to look forward to the rest of my exchange. Instead of new year’s resolutions, I can feel a change in myself as I am starting to live a bit like a German.

Trying to blend in…

Before I came to LMU, I had heard of lots of stereotypes and expectations people had about the Germans such as:

“Germans always drink beer, especially out of big glasses”

On my first day in Munich and saw someone open a beer on the U-Bahn I was very confused and pointed it out to my Dad as a rarity. And yes you can order a litre of beer in a comically big glass. However now, I now know how usual and typical this is and realise that Germans have a much better relationship with alcohol than us Brits. No more was this apparent at Oktoberfest, when I only saw English people being loud and rude and instead saw Germans enjoying the atmosphere and a beer – it seems like a great attitude to socialising and relaxing that I could see myself slipping into…

“Germans only eat sausage, sauerkraut and pretzels”

This is true, well maybe. For sure every beer garden will offer up a wurst to have with your beer, and you will see children, adults, families and old people munching on a pretzel at all times of the day. But Munich also has a wealth of great vegan, vegetarian and exotic cuisines you’ve just got you look through all the pork products to find it. But you can’t really beat a tradition Bavarian meal when enjoying a beer here in Munich, I find pretzels becoming a usual purchase in my weekly shop and even ordering sausages over my usual favourite foods when eating out.

“Germans have a confusing language”

Oh yes this is true. I have started learning German since arriving in September, and have found it very hard. Every day I come across words longer than my arm and can hear conversations I don’t understand. I can’t really pronounce the name of my Bachelors nor my address here in Munich – but I am making slow progress with the language.

“Germany has a booming economy and is a futuristic country.”

This is true, but has some contradiction in ways I had never expected. Germany is seen as the most advanced economy in Europe, the UK looks to it as an example of a growing country with great new ideas and development. But can I use my credit card to pay for anything? Can I set up a bank account easily? I have to wait 3 hours in a queue to register my address? To send money to people I have to go to an actual bank and pay in cash? You don’t accept my essay via online submission? My U-Bhan travel ticket is a piece of paper? My student card is also a piece of paper? This is not what I expected.

However inconvenient this systems feel to me, they do work. Efficient is a word I would use to describe the German way of working, it is very different to the technology based way of life back in the UK – but it works for them. I find myself adjusting and adapting: I can budget better if I have to withdraw cash, I take care of my paper tickets and I can see how it works here.

Adjusting and adapting – this is what my months have consisted of, but for the best I feel. Maybe as 2019 rears its head in the next few weeks I can grow and accommodate these German stereotypes that I have grown to actually love. As I look back over the past few months I look forward to my German life for next semester.