Self Introduction 2

Name

My name is Rubén, but people call me in such different ways: Rubens (like the painter), Ru or even U-bahn. Why U-bahn? A friend of mine found funny that non-spanish speakers cannot pronouncemy name correctly (with the rolled R at the beginning), so she started introducing me as U-bahn so people could understand and pronounce it.

Where I come from

As you can guess, I am from Spain. I’ve been raised in Valencia (a city located in the East coast of
Spain), but I study in Madrid, the capital. A curious fact is that I was born in Madrid because my
parents used to live there, but then we moved back to Valencia (where they are from). And years
later I returned to my city of birth to study.

If I had to decide which of the cities I like the most, I think I could not choose. I love Valencia, and
not only because I’ve been raised there. I really think it is a beautiful city, with a really great
weather and with beautiful landscapes and beaches. I also find the history of the city quite
interesting. And obviously, I have all my family there. But Madrid has enchanted me. The
architecture, the atmosphere of the city, the cultural offer, the people, the parties… I guess Madrid
is more cosmopolite, which is something that I love. Also, I love theatre and Madrid is just the best
place to be if you’re interested in the Dramatic Arts.

Life in Munich

I arrived to Munich almost 9 months ago. The 5th of September of 2021.
Why did I choose Munich?

I choose Munich for many reasons. The first one, but not the most important one, is that I studied
german for 4 years at high school and I wanted to continue learning it. Have I improved my german
skills as planed? Not really. At the end I found lots of other stuff to do and I didn’t study german as
much as I should. Another reason to choose Munich is that people had told me marvelous things
about the city, which I gotta say are all true.

I love living here. I love the people, the parks, its traditions, its landscapes, all the different cultural
events it offers… I had good thoughts when I came here, and it has been definitively even better
than expected. I am in love with the city and I have thought a lot of times on moving here in the
future.

Expectations and plans

As I said in the post I did in October, my expectations were to meet people all around the world and
learn about their cultures and travel around Europe and Germany. And I have to say I have
achieved it by far. I have visited more than 10 different cities around Europe and more than 5 cities
of Germany.

I haven’t improved my german so far, but at least I think I improved my english. At the end I spend
most of the time here with non-german speakers, so english is the language I’ve used the most.
My expectations this 2nd semester? To enjoy it as much as possible, keep meeting people and
making friends, enjoying the good weather and keep traveling all around.

Corona

Corona did play hard last semester and almost everything was closed for months. But that didn’t
stop me at all for enjoying my stay in Munich. I met a lot of people, I made really good friends and I
travelled all around. I feel lucky for the semester I’ve lived here. And I feel even more lucky to have
been able to stay the whole year here. I think this semester is also going to be amazing.