English Garden --- Marien Platz
Time flies!! I cannot believe 3 weeks have already gone by since I arrived in Munich. Thank God everything has gone very good and smoothly. Munich (population 1,249,000), just like the rest of the Bavarian region, is a beautiful place. It is very clean, green, organized, and safe. There are tons of beautiful parks and lakes filled with people who are enjoying the good weather by taking a bike ride, jogging, reading a book, having a picnic, sunbathing, swimming or just sitting down and chatting with friends. One of the things that I like the most about Munich is that it has a small town atmosphere (even tough it is a big city, just look at the population) which to me makes it a very charming place. I’ve felt very comfortable living here since day one and I think that I’m adapting very well to my new life of an unemployed student. As a matter fact, this would be a perfect career change: become an eternal unemployed student. There are so many things to share from the last 3 weeks that I don’t know exactly where to begin. So I guess I’ll start by answering the questions I get asked most frequently: housing, school and what I do on my free-time.
I finally found a place of my own for which I already signed the lease contract a couple of days ago. Now I just need to wait for the landlord to sign the contract so that I can deposit the 1st month’s rent and deposit on the landlord’s account and Bingo: I will be given the keys to the apartment. Well, to call it an apartment or even a studio is an overstatement. I call it my “Streichholzschächtelchen” or little matchbox (ja ja ja, just trying to teach you some German). By the way, they say that if you can read this word correctly you will have no problem mastering the language. The studio is located in an area of town called “Neuhausen”. It is on the northwest part of Munich but close to the city center. It has a small hallway with a closet, a small kitchenette, one room that functions as a bedroom/living/room/dining room/family room etc. etc plus a bathroom and a balcony. It is completely furnished and it even comes with a TV. Something that Carlo’s apartment lacks and that is driving me somewhat insane. I haven’t watched the news or TV for that matter, since the last hotel night in Milan. I have no clue as to what is going on in the world. For all I know Fidel could be dead, a couple of tropical storms or even hurricane could have been close to hitting somewhere along the eastern coast of the U.S, .the democratic and republican primaries could be over, or allies could have taken over part of the world (anywhere but Munich) without me knowing about it. Ok, where was I? The studio won’t be available until July 1st so in the meantime I will continue to live in my friend’s (Carlos) apartment. What I love about my place is that it is near a lively “platz” or square called “Rotkreutzplatz”. The square has several restaurants and cafés with tables set outside, shops, small supermarkets, fruit stands, and a department store. I will post some pictures of the area once I move in. One of the subway lines as well as 2 trams and 3 buses (one of them a night bus that runs from 1 until 5 o’clock in the morning) stop at Rotkreutzplatz. So this area is easily accessible 24 hours a day with public transportation. And the building is about a 5 minute walk from Rotkreutzplatz. I also love the fact that it is located about a 20 minute walk to the Olympic Center (where the 1972 Olympics took place. Yes, the same ones portrayed in the movie Munich) and the castle of Nympherburg. Places where I plan to bike to and jog once I purchase a bike and get back to my jogging routine. I’ve realized that just as there is a cult to the beer in Munich there is definitely a cult to the bicycle. In this city there are probably as many bikes as there are cars. I swear; one of my biggest fears is not to be hit by a car, but to be run over by a bike. There may very well be no criminality in this city to worry about but there are plenty of bikes that threaten your every day life. All the streets in Munich have a bike path in between the sidewalk and the street. And when I say all I mean absolutely all the streets. At the beginning it was horrible because I was not used to having to watch out for bikes. I was close to getting into a bike accident on a few occasions. Of course, since my brain was not aware of the existence of bike paths and I was not used to having to watch out for bikes. I would just walk or stand on a bike path without paying attention or without looking both ways before crossing to make sure there were not bikes rapidly approaching me. So I’ve decided to get me a bike to ride while I´m here. They tell me that I can get a second hand bike for 30-40 euros and then sell it back for 20-30 euros when I leave.
I finally found a place of my own for which I already signed the lease contract a couple of days ago. Now I just need to wait for the landlord to sign the contract so that I can deposit the 1st month’s rent and deposit on the landlord’s account and Bingo: I will be given the keys to the apartment. Well, to call it an apartment or even a studio is an overstatement. I call it my “Streichholzschächtelchen” or little matchbox (ja ja ja, just trying to teach you some German). By the way, they say that if you can read this word correctly you will have no problem mastering the language. The studio is located in an area of town called “Neuhausen”. It is on the northwest part of Munich but close to the city center. It has a small hallway with a closet, a small kitchenette, one room that functions as a bedroom/living/room/dining room/family room etc. etc plus a bathroom and a balcony. It is completely furnished and it even comes with a TV. Something that Carlo’s apartment lacks and that is driving me somewhat insane. I haven’t watched the news or TV for that matter, since the last hotel night in Milan. I have no clue as to what is going on in the world. For all I know Fidel could be dead, a couple of tropical storms or even hurricane could have been close to hitting somewhere along the eastern coast of the U.S, .the democratic and republican primaries could be over, or allies could have taken over part of the world (anywhere but Munich) without me knowing about it. Ok, where was I? The studio won’t be available until July 1st so in the meantime I will continue to live in my friend’s (Carlos) apartment. What I love about my place is that it is near a lively “platz” or square called “Rotkreutzplatz”. The square has several restaurants and cafés with tables set outside, shops, small supermarkets, fruit stands, and a department store. I will post some pictures of the area once I move in. One of the subway lines as well as 2 trams and 3 buses (one of them a night bus that runs from 1 until 5 o’clock in the morning) stop at Rotkreutzplatz. So this area is easily accessible 24 hours a day with public transportation. And the building is about a 5 minute walk from Rotkreutzplatz. I also love the fact that it is located about a 20 minute walk to the Olympic Center (where the 1972 Olympics took place. Yes, the same ones portrayed in the movie Munich) and the castle of Nympherburg. Places where I plan to bike to and jog once I purchase a bike and get back to my jogging routine. I’ve realized that just as there is a cult to the beer in Munich there is definitely a cult to the bicycle. In this city there are probably as many bikes as there are cars. I swear; one of my biggest fears is not to be hit by a car, but to be run over by a bike. There may very well be no criminality in this city to worry about but there are plenty of bikes that threaten your every day life. All the streets in Munich have a bike path in between the sidewalk and the street. And when I say all I mean absolutely all the streets. At the beginning it was horrible because I was not used to having to watch out for bikes. I was close to getting into a bike accident on a few occasions. Of course, since my brain was not aware of the existence of bike paths and I was not used to having to watch out for bikes. I would just walk or stand on a bike path without paying attention or without looking both ways before crossing to make sure there were not bikes rapidly approaching me. So I’ve decided to get me a bike to ride while I´m here. They tell me that I can get a second hand bike for 30-40 euros and then sell it back for 20-30 euros when I leave.
1 comment:
Adriana, You are making me laugh when you explained the whole bike thing. It is like I am reliving my trip to Germany. I did not know about the bikes either until I was like you standing in a bike path and was yelled at to move out of the way by a family going at least 55 mph. I have never seen anyone ride bikes so fast. They go up and down hills at the same speed...fast. When I first got there my first reaction was to wonder if people were not afraid to have their bikes stolen since they leave their bikes parked with no lock. Later when I saw that there were as many bikes as people I realized they would never steal a bike, because they already have one!
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