How to answer that question of yours

“Why Munich?”. A question that I was asked so many times that I started posing it to myself. I was asked it back home; I was asked it here. Both by internationals and by locals, people who, funnily, have chosen to live in the same city, but still make me feel as if my decision was wrong. “You could have gone to Berlin or Hamburg? Ah, so Munich surely was your last choice?”. Disbelief when I say it was my first. A silent judgement in their eyes, “Ah so you are one of the comfortable ones. Scared of trying something new.”

In many ways, they are right. I am Leah, an English and Communication Sciences student from Zurich, the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Munich is close to Zurich and the cities have many things in common. I am not culture shocked; I didn’t have to leave my comfort zone. I speak the language, I know the customs, the food, the system. So why did I choose this city for my semester abroad?

The Perks of Four Hours

Let me raise a point: Four hours by train can make a difference. A new country can make a difference. Being an exchange student, living on your own without knowing a single person in a city can make a difference. Plus, we are living in unstable times, where a pandemic can prompt a government to restrict movements and shut down places within the span of days. Where you can get sick like you’ve never been before (because when I caught Omicron, it really wasn’t just a cold). Living in a time where a raging war causes an already increasing inflation and high costs of life to rise within weeks. A war of which the outcome remains unclear, just as the development of the pandemic does. So, I think having chosen a more comfortable option now than I would have done three years ago might be justified. Being able to reach home by train, bus or car within four hours simply allows me a sense of safety at the back of my mind; it doesn’t mean that I need and will go back regularly. But it just means that I could do so if anything happened, and we all know by now that this can be a reassuring thought.

Besides: Munich has a population of four times the one of Zurich. The housing situation is even more dramatic than at home, so you could end up in an area an hour from university where you don’t know your way around. You could be scammed; you could find yourself without a contract at the point of arrival. I had to quit my student job that enabled me to pay my rent back home. I had to take care of innumerable administrative tasks: getting an appointment with the registration office, paying the additional bills, opening a new bank account, adapting my phone contract, organising my schedule. So, it did take courage to come to Munich, just as it would have needed courage to go to any city.

Love at First Sight

But, more importantly, there is a particular reason why I chose Munich and it’s far from anxiety and anticipated stress: I fell in love with this city at first sight. When in 2018, I came here for a prolonged weekend with my relatives, I could not stop marvelling at every corner. Never have I seen cultural venues so condensed, cafés and bars so inviting, a crowded city centre so relaxed. Parks and green spaces wherever you look, beautiful architecture framing broad streets, an efficient tube system where you don’t get lost. Energetic students on bikes, cheerful groups sitting on squares, chatty locals enjoying cake in their regular café or sipping on Aperol Spritz in bars alongside the streets. Countless gigs, theatre plays, exhibitions, openairs (and compared to Zurich, they are quite affordable!).

So why would I not want to live in Munich? Why go far when there is a tempting option so close? Where I can stay in touch with the locals I meet more easily after I will have left and can show visitors from home around, because they can afford the trip. And, finally, where I can come back for my favourite places after my exchange. I can already anticipate missing this city so it’s simply nice to know that it won’t be hard to reach.

The Italian author Italo Calvino expressed in his novel Invisible Cities in 1972 that every city has its unique character, just like a person. Munich is different to Zurich, even if they share some topographical features (like being surrounded by alps, having a river run through the city), are both quite wealthy, have a red-green city council and speak a German variety that is widely perceived as “funny”. But: Zurich does not have spacious beer gardens where you’re invited to bring your own food. Zurich does not have a huge park like the English garden; our green spaces are always so crowded in summer that you literally need to arrive early for a spot if you want to experience the golden hour. Zurich is dense, walkable, without the need for a tube. In Zurich, people tend to stay within their social circle and to focus on self-improvement and work. In Munich, strangers are helpful, open, talkative, seemingly relaxed. Even if it is a stereotypical notion, so far it has been confirmed many times.

Plus, whereas it’s hard to live on a student budget in Switzerland, the Erasmus student network in Munich offers free activities almost every day. And, finally, I can attend a seminar at LMU that is taught by the leading editor for investigative journalism at the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a paper renowned for international reports that Swiss papers could only dream of. Having studied at the university of Zurich for almost five years now, I have never come across such a course. These are some of the reasons why I chose Munich, and haven’t regretted it!

The Wonders of a City

Don’t get me wrong, I love my hometown. I love the comfort of being able to navigate my city safely and knowing its infrastructure to be reliable throughout. I adore that our 12 districts each have their own vibe, even if they are in walkable distance. In Zurich, you can relax, but also be active, entertained and broaden your horizons. Munich offers this as well, but just on a slightly bigger scale. In that way, I am glad that I can cling to a sense of familiarity and comfort. Maybe a comfortable option is not always worse than a completely new one.

Calvino wrote: “You take delight not in a city’s seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours.” So, for now, I feel that this question of mine will be “Why Munich?” and hopefully, by the end of my stay, I will have an even more elaborate answer to it.