Leaving my heart in Munich

I scroll through my camera roll and I jump into the first picture I took when arriving in Munich.  It shows a beautiful sunset and I remember being in the car with my parents and my suitcases full of happiness, expectations, desires and fears. Spending a semester here was a big step through the path of my life, but I had no idea how much this experience could enhance me in such a small amount of time.

And suddenly here we are, five months later I’m in the same place where I wrote my first post on this blog, to say goodbye to this city. If by that time I was writing about my enthusiasm and excitement for this new adventure, now I’m carrying some nostalgia and melancholy inside of me.
I didn’t expect time to pass by so fast, one moment it’s the beginning and all of a sudden it’s time to leave. I would have never thought to enjoy the time I spent in Munich that much as I did.

Right after the first days spent here, I fell in love with Munich and continued to do it every day. I have never lived in a big city, but Munich has so much to offer that I enjoyed every second of my stay here. I liked the feeling of being part of a metropolis and at the same time being able to find small spots full of green. I’ve been a tourist around the city and in Germany, but I also started to experience the daily and slow life here. In the end, it’s not about doing crazy things, but more having experiences with the right people.

It is thanks to this course that I met some of my favorite people now and it is thanks to them that I could call this place ‘home’. A large portion of my Erasmus have been my friends, without whom these months would not have been the same. People from different countries, with languages and cultures that randomly met and became a family. We did so many things together, that it seems we have known each other for a whole life, when in fact not even a year passed since we first met. We laughed, we cried, we ran, we played, we ate, we danced, we drank, we traveled, we studied (we tried at least), we cooked, we talked, but most importantly we supported each other in this journey and we lived every moment.

Each one of us contributed, with its own personality and way of being, to create the bond we now have. I hope we will manage to overcome the distance and make all the plans we dreamed for the future come true, but we will forever have shared memories to store in our hearts.
I learned a lot from them and it was very enriching and stimulating being around people from the most varied places in the world. They left me with something more than I had before.

If I listen to the emotions inside of me at the moment, they are in a chaos; I really had mixed feelings when coming here and I kind of feel the same right now. I wish I had a little more time with my friends in our little bubble that we create here, but also the good things come to an end and I guess this is how it is supposed to be.

I smile when thinking about the Rebecca who came to Munich. She would have never imagined to live such an experience, to mature so much and to find a new family in just a few months. 
I can’t go back in time and start all over again; time flies, but memories will last forever inside of me.