Goodbye Munich? More like see you again Munich!

It will be only a few weeks (more like days) until I pack my bags, add some bottled beers as a present, and say my final goodbye to Munich.

This farewell post is a great way to look back at my time here, which I am doing right now as I am sitting in a Café near Goetheplatz sipping “Cappucino mit Hafermilch”, which would probably be the german phrase I have perfected the most during my time here, based on the number of times I have used it. Number two would probably be “Ein Helles” or “Einmal Butterbreze, bitte”. Let’s see If I can write this post before the bittersweet feeling gets the best of me and before my hafermilch cappucino gets cold. 

I remember telling my friend in Prague in September, that I was nervous about leaving the city I knew inside and out. I was feeling like I did not know what to do and where to go in Munich (quite literally, I was using Google Maps multiple times a day even to the nearest REWE). A few months later, when I arrived at Munich central station after my Christmas break, the unknown feeling from September was switched by a very known, comfortable, almost home-like feeling, reminding me of how much I have learned to know this city and how much it has grown on me. (Although the screenshot of the U-Bahn plan, which is still in my “favorite pictures for easy reach” album would say that I am very much still new and confused.)

In the welcome post, I wrote that I wanted to experience both the culture of Munich as well as its beautiful surroundings, which I think I managed to do. Cheap museum entrance tickets and Sunday tickets for 1 euro was somebody´s great idea and I have used all the cold and rainy days to take advantage of it. 

On the days with nicer weather, especially in Autumn, I visited the beautiful surroundings of Munich, lakes, and mountains. Ammersee turned out to be one of my favorite easily reachable places to go to and I have returned there several times. 

I have also really enjoyed my small apartment, especially its location. Out of the stressful process of trying to find accommodation, I came out really lucky and it will be one of the things I miss the most when I leave Munich.  

One of my favorite memories will be the Christmas time I spent here. The Christmas markets have been an amazing highlight and I felt like Munich really came alive during that time. I have visited most of them, some of them a couple of times because of the atmosphere there. I have tried white mulled wine for the first time and ate some Flammbrot for the first time, but not the last time for sure.

My hafermilch cappuccino is getting cold now, so I think it’s time to wrap it up until I get sad. I have enjoyed my semester here so much. Even with its big ups and downs (there were a lot of both) I turned it into the best experience I could have. I have met so many great people, came outside of my comfort zone, learned some lessons, figured out how to ride a bike in the city, learned what Obazda is and how good it is, and made great memories. I am glad I got to meet people from around the world and now have one more reason to visit the different countries and cities where they live. 

It has flown by so fast. Just several Monday brunches, Tuesday karaokes, Wednesday lunches at the school mensa, Thursday meetings in the Professional communication seminar, Friday drinks at the Lost Weekend and my Erasmus is almost over. As people say, time flies by when you are having fun. 

I am definitely planning to come back here, I would like to see Munich in the spring or in the summer, or visit Oktoberfest and some other events (maybe the Christmas markets again).

If I ever wondered, if choosing Munich was a good choice, when it’s not so far from my home (and I did wonder, sometimes almost thinking it was not a good choice), I think I have just now found the answer and the biggest advantage.  I just now realize that because of the small distance, I can come back every time I start to miss it, I can use every event here as an excuse to visit, and come back every time I start to feel a little Munich-home-sick. 

So I guess, since I have finished my already cold drink and failed in my mission not to feel bittersweet, I should stop writing and learn a new german phrase, and really remember it. It is not a phrase to say Goodbye, it is a phrase to say quite literally See you again – Auf wiedesehen! Or as we say in the Czech republic – Na shledanou! Let´s hope it’s true and this really is not a Good buy Munich but a See you again Munich.