Does LMU Dream of Me?

Hi, everyone who may have clicked this post with confusion about my title. As a non-android human, I am not so arrogant as this title at all, I will explain this later. First, I want to introduce myself.

My name is 武 奕贝(Wu Yibei) and pronounces as /uːˌiː ˈbeɪ/. Wu is my surname and Yibei is my first name. Or you can just call me Beata for convenience in daily life (I came up with this English name because it sounds like the last character of my name. I come from Henan, China. You probably have not heard of the name of my hometown, but the cradle of Chinese kung fu — the Shaolin Temple is located there.

I’m doing my bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature. This is my fifth semester at Fudan University, Shanghai, China but now I’m an exchange student and come to LMU.

Then it comes to the question in the title. My favorite rhetorical device is to swap the position of the actor and the object, for example, from “I miss you” to “You miss me”. So, the original title should be: Do I Dream of LMU? And the answer is: Yes, of course that is why I’m standing here.

The story between me and LMU originated from a vague aspiration I had in high school. At that time, I did not know a lot about details about this university and could even not explain why I had such an unjustified yearning for it. In my home University, I learnt German and desired to apply my language competence, to see the mountains, forests and palaces which I had read from textbooks and to get in touch with local academic atmosphere. When I got the chance to go on an exchange semester and determine which university to visit, the younger myself whispered: the LMU.  Behind the decision, although there is rational selection, it initially stems from a sense of connection. What happened just feels like fate.

I wish I can improve my German language competence as well as my academic maturity by exchanging ideas with the professors and fellow students at the LMU. What’s more, I sincerely want to know what kind of life my peers from other countries lead and what problems they face at this age. That means that I came here with full of anxiety about my future and was eager to escape from the highly stressful university life temporarily. So, seeking the inner strength and courage to keep moving forward is my main topic here for the coming exchange semester.

Standing here at the campus of LMU means my dream comes true. I’m excited to create fantastic stories together with you!