Learning Germany and German starting from Munich!

Hallo!! My name is Wong Yu Yin, you can call me Anna~ I am from Hong Kong. At my home university, the University of Hong Kong, I study Journalism as my first major and Global and Area Studies (GLAS) as my second major.

For my second major, there is a requirement: we are required to learn a foreign language. I chose to study German, and this is one of the reasons why I decided to come to Germany. I think it is better to experience the language and culture in real life to learn more about the country, instead of just from classes or several PowerPoint slides and photos. So basically, one of my goals in this exchange journey is to practice and try to speak out loud in order to improve my German. My German was pretty bad back in Hong Kong, so I really hope to save my academic results from Germany back to my home university!!!^_^!!!

Growing up in Hong Kong, one of the most attractive parts of it is that I have always been surrounded by lots of diverse food types. The city is often known as a “gourmet paradise,” where it is easy to find cuisines from all over the world. If any of you plan to visit Hong Kong one day, I would be happy to share my personal “must-eat” list!!!!!

At first, when I came to Germany, I thought I might not get used to the food here. However, I found out that lots of food here is pretty good!!! As I am a bread lover, I think it’s interesting to try different breads in the supermarket every day. And I have to say!! I really love the dairy products here, the milk, yogurt, and cheese really taste so good!!!

During my few weeks now in Munich, I think Munich is a very interesting and special city. I still do not know if other German cities are like this, as I have only visited Munich so far. To me, Munich feels like a city deeply connected to memory and reflection. There are many opportunities here to explore historical sites and better understand the past. From what I have seen so far, Munich is a city telling us to “remember”—whether these memories are painful or glorious. 

Also, I really love its city structure. Munich does not just throw the past away while turning modern. Living near Olympiapark, I have a strong sense of Munich’s unique city structure. You can see a natural, peaceful park right next to the modern BMW Museum. You can see historic buildings maybe next to a modern building. The more I walk around, this blend of nature, vintage, and modernity can be found throughout the city. They are very close, but weirdly, it’s very coordinated and creates its own city colour. I think all these aspects make Munich very beautiful and interesting, which makes me want to explore the unique charm of this city.

At the same time, I really like the geographical location of Munich. Its location makes it very convenient for traveling around Germany and Europe. This is also my first time in Europe in my past 21 years. Before, I only traveled around Asian countries. It is very exciting to know more about Europe and its culture and lifestyle vibe.

During my semester here, I really want to deepen my understanding of German. Not just to improve my German language skills, but also to learn more about this city and Germany. I always think that if you really want to truly understand a country’s culture, you have to know about its language. Use their own unique language to fully understand the beauty of the country. So I hope that after my exchange, Germany will become more than just a second major language, it’ll be a vivid, real place to me.