The Art of the Dinner Party

I never expected to say this, but one of the main things I’ve taken away from my first semester in Munich is the art of the dinner party. Dinner parties have been central to the creation and maintenance of close bonds with other exchange students. They have been the source of countless great conversations; funny moments and they are also some of my warmest memories from Munich.

My dinner party hosting skills have followed a sharp learning curve. At first, I felt a little nervous and awkward about hosting such an event. It felt too adult and perhaps a bit forced. It’s also a lot of effort. I had no idea if the dinner party would be any fun.

However, in due time I learnt to transform my tiny studio apartment with sparse furniture into an accommodating, dinner-friendly space. I exponentially improved my ability to cook for a large group. Some other improvements have been my cooking time-management, my cooking creativity and versatility, and my ability to stay calm throughout the whole process. As a child observing my mom pre-dinner party, I knew that these culinary events could induce acute anxiety if not managed properly. I am happy to say my dinner parties no longer induce outbursts of stress.

These culinary happenings were some of my favourite moments. One of my fondest memories from the exchange happens to be my birthday dinner party October 1^st, right as the semester began.

I was in fact extremely nervous about celebrating my birthday in the absence of family and childhood friends. My birthday was also the same day I had to move into a new apartment as well as matriculate myself at LMU. I was certain I was going to have a stressful, painfully long day.

I was so wrong. One of my friends helped me move in. And some of the friends that I had made during my September German intensive class came to my new small apartment and helped cook dinner with me. A few also wrote a card together and gave a small gift.

The fact that these fellow exchange students, whom I’d only known for around a month, showed such generosity and kindness quelled all my birthday fears. That evening, we all ate a lot of food, drank a lot of wine and laughed a great deal. This memory is still one of my brightest.

The exchange is also the first time in my life when I personally had to put in a substantial effort towards creating a social life. Back home, it was always very easy to see my childhood friends or classmates by simply meeting up at school or occasionally making a phone call. My social life was very low-maintenance.

I had completely forgotten that the process of making new friends, especially close ones, is a long one that requires a lot of effort and upkeep. Indeed, in Munich I simultaneously learned the art of dinner parties and the art of friend-making.

Though this has been at times tiring, it has also been such an eye-opening experience. I never fully acknowledged that by staying with the same group of friends for most of my life, I had never truly expanded my horizons. I have learned so much about people studying completely different things from me, who are from vastly different cultures and who have diverse interests.

There is, however, one small caveat. A key reason why I’ve been able to attend and host so many dinner parties is because of my university experience here in Munich – which provides a lot more freedom than my Canadian university. This semester, I took several block courses which seriously opened up my schedule. To add, the mentality in German universities is very different. At my home university, I am constantly overloaded with weekly readings and assignments. Here, though I do have readings, there are far fewer examinations – usually, only one or two big ones during the semester. This makes time management a lot easier and therefore, dinner parties more manageable!

I hope I manage to take back my new appreciation for meeting new people back home with me. And I’ll definitely bring back my newfound love for hosting dinner parties.