What I’ve been up to….

Hello my name is Hannah, I’m an exchange student from Australia. I grew up in Sydney all my life and I wanted to have a change of scenery. I never left Australia before and haven’t lived on my own too. It was my first time really adulting since I decided to choose Munich as part of my exchange program because I heard good experiences from past exchange students and how beautiful it is. Which they were right about. I also dreamt about living in Germany in my twenties and possibly doing a masters here in the near future. So far my expectations of my semester abroad is to see as much of the world as possible, since Australia is a 33 hour flight away. I plan to learn more about German culture and explore the German Alps. I’ve hiked to Rachelburg which wasn’t initially beginner friendly but had a good time seeing the top of the mountain. The German culture is quite different compared to Australia since it’s not known for being friendly and laid back but more so direct and reserved. I plan to take German lessons while I’m studying and what I learned is basic greetings and common vocabulary words that I will probably be using while I’m living in Germany. I realised while attempting to speak German is highly encouraged here. However I still struggle to have a conversation but I digress. So far I’ve been up to Octoberfest and it’s so much fun with lots of different beer tents and German food. I really enjoyed the paulaner tent and Hacker Festzelt tent was the prettiest tent. It’s has only been month since I arrived here in Munich. I haven’t tried much German cuisine yet but I had some of the beer, it’s quite nice, probably one of the best drinks I’ve ever had. The major difference I noticed while living in Germany is that everything is on the right hand side and how the tree leaves change colours in autumn. I still struggle to stay on the right side while walking and I can get over how beautiful the trees are. My special plan for the next 3 months is to see at least one of the seven wonders of the world. I’ve never seen snow before so hopefully I get to see snow for the first time. I plan to visit lots of Christmas markets around the world. I heard that the Christmas markets are amazing in Munich but I need to be careful since i don’t have much space in my suitcase.