People who hate rain come to Munich during the rainy season

First-time step in Europe —— Jojo

Hi, everyone! This is the first time I have introduced myself in this way, my name is Josephine, but in order to help others remember me, I usually call myself Jojo. I was born in Wuhan and studied in Hong Kong. My Chinese name is CAO Luyao (曹璐瑶). 璐 and 瑶 are both Chinese means jade. My parents gave me this name because they wanted me to be as pure and beautiful as jade. But it seems that I and this name is not too similar. The word ‘Jade’ in my eyes is beautiful but fragile, but I am a very bold and resolute person. I don’t speak German, I’ve never been to Europe, and I don’t even have a bank card that allows me to spend money in Germany, but I still chose to go to LMU alone with a backpack, which is one of my many exciting and crazy decisions.

My hometown is Wuhan, the city where the novel coronavirus epidemic first broke out. So whenever I introduce myself where I come from, everyone will ask me, ‘Did you have COVID-19 at the time?’. Unfortunately, the answer is no. I’m one of those people who’s afraid to go out, so I’m safe. Wuhan is a very magical city where you can see not only the Yangtze River but also lakes, tall buildings, and ancient temples.

Of course, food is the most worth mentioning here. People in Wuhan attach great importance to breakfast and even queue up to buy breakfast at 5 am. Breakfast in Wuhan is different from other places, and people tend to eat a lot of carbs in the morning, unlike in most places, where eating breakfast is a rush. People will eat Hot and dry noodles, soup bun, and a wide variety of food in the morning. In the streets of Wuhan late at night, you can still see people sitting on the roadside eating hot pot, and the food stalls in the old alleys are crowded with customers eating barbecue and crayfish. It can be said that Wuhan is a city that never sleeps.

After the epidemic ended, I went to Hong Kong to study at university. Hong Kong is a very modern and cosmopolitan city. If anyone wants to travel to Asia, I highly recommend Hong Kong because Hong Kong is a very diverse and inclusive city. Hong Kong is the only place I’ve seen that celebrates both Western and Eastern holidays, and you can find food from any country in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is also a paradise for people who like to climb mountains. The Hong Kong government has a strong awareness of nature protection. Most of the mountains and areas near the sea have not been developed for housing, so you can choose many hiking routes here.

I once learned German for two years in junior high school. When I saw the German food and scenery in language books, I buried in my heart the idea of traveling here. It just so happened that LMU offers students from all over the world the chance to study here on exchange, and LMU is a leader in the social sciences, so it didn’t take long for me to decide to live here for a while. I majored in Business Psychology in my original school, which may not be familiar in Germany, but in fact Business Psychology is a combination of human resources and clinical psychology. Communication Science is the major I chose in LMU, which is very different from my original major. It is a challenge for me, but I think it is very cool to learn a strange major in a foreign country. At the same time, I minored in Social Media Marketing at the university of Hong Kong, so I have been exposed to a lot of knowledge related to media. I think this has also aroused my interest in media. In particular, it has made me realize that the media of a country actually reflect its current ideology. Therefore, having the opportunity to learn communication science at LMU also helps me to understand more about the culture here.

Life in Munich has been just like what I imagined. The transportation is very convenient, and you can eat food from different countries. Although the city is not big, there are many historic places. Of all the scenic spots I went to, my favorite is Ningfenburg. I like to walk by the lake like the people here. When I am tired, I sit on the park bench in the sun, watching the swans licking their feathers. When I was in Hong Kong, I felt that every day passed quickly, the city was full of busy footsteps, but in Munich, I saw the side of people enjoying life. People can relax and sit on the beach for a picnic, or sit on the bridge and wait for the sunset, time here passes more slowly but more thoroughly.

Like most people in Munich, I hate walking in the street with an umbrella, and I often forget to take my umbrella with me, so I hate rainy days, and I don’t like to go out when it rains. Therefore, my only regret is that I came to Munich during the rainy season. I came here for two weeks and only had two sunny days, but that makes me look forward to Munich in the summer! Hopefully everything will go well in Munich, just like from the rainy season to summer!