A bright life change

Munich: the capital, the largest and most important city of the Federal State of Bavaria and the third city of Germany by number of inhabitants. It is located on the river Isar by the north of the Bavarian Alps.

That would be an objective and brief definition of the place I now call ”home”. But the truth is that after living in Munich for 3 months that definition doesn’t sound accurate to me. Why? Well, you might want to keep on reading this post…

I arrived to Munich on the 28th of September last year with an exorbitant excitement. The last weekend of the Oktoberfest. As you can imagine, that was the first spot to hit and to meet new people. First impression? O-M-G SO-MUCH-BEER… but that was not the only thing that caught my attention… people singing and dancing on the tables? Definitely, the beer culture in Germany is way different to the one in Spain. In my country, we usually drink beer in terraces just to chill and talk with friends. Meanwhile, I’ve learned that beer in Germany is either taken as a way of celebration with friends or complete opposite as a regular drink as I have seen many people drinking it on their way home while taking the U-bahn as if we were talking about water.

1st October: I arrived to the house where I will be staying for a whole year. A student residence with more than five buildings and eighteen floors. Shocking and exciting. It felt like a mini student city. But the funniest thing about that day was locking myself out of my room and knowing absolutely no one in the hall. For my luck, I ran into a group of German guys that lived in my floor and they helped me get back into my room and invited me to hang out with them in order to know the rest of the people living on my floor. I have heard so many times that germans are cold and hard to approach, but that day I learned that they are WELCOMING and SUPER FRIENDLY.

15th October: Lessons began. The U-Bahn that goes to Universität gets filled with students. What appears to be freshmen keep on checking the metro map while others get on an affection bubble sharing hugs with their colleagues that have not seen in a while. All of this is done in a PEACEFUL and QUIET atmosphere that follows to the main building where there is no stress at all. Back in Spain, the first day of class is a real nightmare. Everyone is arriving late, running from one place to another and affection is shown by shouting to your best friends on the corridor how much you have missed them.

From then on, the following months were all about enjoying the city life with my new friends, making trips to the numerous castles around such as Schloss Neuschwanstein or Schloss Nymphenburg, get ajusted to hearing ”bitte zurückbleiben” every morning and not forgetting to do the GROCERY BEFORE SUNDAY.

Anyway, I have to admit that my favourite thing about living in Munich (apart from my growing obsession for butter bretzels) is the comfortable structure of the city, as getting anywhere is easy, relaxing and fast. Makes me even rethink about my future and the possibility of establishing myself in this wonderful city that does not stop surprising me.

But hey, my journey is not over yet and I have a huge bucket list of amazing things to do, adventures and corners to explore in Munich!