Hallo, München!

München, or Munich for you uncultured folk (lol), is located in the southern German state of Bavaria. Everything you think you know about Germany is pretty much isolated to here. The dirndl, lederhosen, pretzels, sausages, Oktoberfest celebrations, braided beer maidens, etc. – all in Bavaria.

My sister and I spent two nights in Munich before our parents joined us so they could escort me to my campus in Marburg, Hessen. Munich was my gateway to the country I’m now calling home for the next few months, and in my opinion, a great place to start. Growing up and living in metropolitan areas (Los Angeles, San Diego) did not prepare me for the small town setting I’ve found myself in now, but more on that later. So, with Munich being one of the larger cities in Germany, I felt more at ease with getting accustomed to the language, food and people.

On our first night in Munich, we found ourselves at a restaurant serving an iconic late night food – currywurst. It’s basically pommes frites served with sausages in a curry sauce. I wish I had photos to show you, but I was really hungry. Use your imagination.

It wasn’t until later that I found out that this is not a local beer – stupid American.

My first foray into German cuisine was a success. The next night, we went to Hofbräuhaus, a beer hall and landmark in Munich. Our parents hadn’t seen us in weeks, so we went all out on the beers and food. I finally got to try real schnitzel, which in this case was breaded veal fried and served with potato salad and cranberries.

Veal Schnitzel Viennese style – no sauce, just lemon

At some point in the night, we made friends with a few locals who tried to buy my sister as a wife, had more than enough beer and ended up at our AirBnB absolutely STARVING. Much to my dismay, delivery after midnight isn’t a thing here. It’s probably the fact that Europeans are health-conscious. (Europe really has it all figured it out man.)

Find someone who looks at you the way I look at beer

“Reunited and it feels so good…”

Munich was a blast. The German rail systems are flawless and easier to navigate than most other systems in the world (or so I hear.) After a solid 4 days, it was time to head west to Marburg, where I would be living for the next five months. Munich, I’ll most definitely be back. If not for the pretzels, then absolutely for the weissbier.

Thanks for reading & see you next time!

xoxo,
Julia

33 days until peanut and sis take europe!

hi, everyone!

i hope you all had a fun-filled holiday and new year. i have very exciting news today! my sister, jessica, and i have just booked our flights and trains for the two and a half weeks we are spending together in europe next month!

we found some great hacker fares on Kayak for the flights, and booked through RailEurope for the Thalys trains. i’m so excited to have concrete plans (finally!), but it still feels so surreal! here’s our itinerary:

in case you’re not a visual spreadsheet-loving psychopath like me, here’s our itinerary again, but with less going on:

• London, U.K. – Feb. 6-9
• Dublin, Ireland – Feb. 9-11
• Paris, France – Feb. 11-14
• Brussels, Belgium – Feb. 14-15
• Amsterdam, Netherlands – Feb. 15-17
• Munich, Germany – Feb. 17-20

we also got matching patagonia backpacks (because we are extra, don’t ask) and i bought a 35mm film slr camera to document my trip. a lot of people seem genuinely worried that my sister (aka sis) and i (aka peanut) are backpacking through europe together, but i assure you, she will make it home…i cannot guarantee that i won’t fall in love with deutschland and stay forever.

just kidding, mom! i’ll be back to finish my degree, but who knows after graduation??? lol

there are 33 DAYS LEFT UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR LONDON, and i cannot wrap my head around it. i promise much more scintillating content in the coming weeks, such as how to pack everything you would need for five months in europe into a 28L backpack and carry on-sized luggage (spoiler alert: it probably cannot be done, but i digress), or how to encourage your sister that she doesn’t really need to bring those extra 16 pairs of shoes “just in case.”

don’t forget that i will also be publishing content for the SDSU Be International Blog starting in February! i’ll announce it all here, of course.

until next time & thanks for reading!

xoxo,
julia