I am an international student coming to the end of my studies at Technical University of Munich. Looking back now, the days I spent in Munich and the people I met there changed my life.
Recently I came across to the notes I took in my first days in Munich, I wanted to share some tips and little notes with new coming students arriving to Munich.
- There is a cheap way to travel in Bavaria, check the regional ticket “Bavaria ticket”. If you travel with more people up to 5, you pay less (+ you will have much more fun and have better memories when you travel together!)
- On Sundays, entrance fee is 1 Euro for many museums.
- Check meetup.com, ESN, TUM international, student events, orientation events, student clubs to meet new people. Meet people from different countries who have different interests. Listening them and understanding them will change your point of view and change you. You will be more open to people, to yourself and to the world around.
- Join WhatsApp groups. Join Facebook groups. you will learn many things from those groups.
- Check Skyscanner for cheap tickets. I flied to Palma de Mallorca paying only 10 Euros.
- Write down your days on a diary, it will be nice to remember your experiences and feelings at that place and age later.
- Don’t miss the deadline to pay university fees.
- Check e-scooters and bikes instead of public transport.
- Don’t postpone traveling, try to travel whenever you have time.
- N26 is a cool and English friendly bank.
- Finding a room to stay is hard. Focus on just finding “somewhere to stay” when you are first arriving! Check Facebook groups. Post on Facebook groups.
- Euroshop is a nice place to buy stuff for home on a budget.
- Balla Beni is a nice place for ice cream.
- Cafe Volhoelzer Forum is in main campus and my favourite place with a view.
- You can check Man Versus Machine to buy good coffee.
- Oktoberfest is too expensive but worth being there once.
- BMW museum is really interesting.
- You can check Mustafas Gemüse Kebap and Türkitch to eat döner.
- I like Bami House for affordable lunch and dinner.
- Lo Studente is a student friendly pizza place.
- In Germany 1 is the highest grade, 5 fails.
- If you are an international student, it might be hard to have German close friends, but there can be exceptions. (My best friend is German)
- Kase spätzle is amazing. Kaiserschmarrn is worth trying.
- Try Obazda cheese.
- You will hear these words a lot: Radler, Helles, Weisse beer
- Check the events: “Lange nacht der museum” and “Lange nacht der Musik”, “Photo München” if you enjoy art.
- Mensa has cheap food.
- TUM is pretty international friendly.
- The slide at TUM- Informatik is more scary then it seems.
- German education system tries to raise independent individuals. It allows you flexibility.
- It is impossible to learn German without putting so much effort
- You can drink tap water
- Lindau, Eibsee and Königsee are cool places to visit.
- Some places you might like in Munich: Zeitgeist, Atzinger, Lost Weekend, Coctailhouse, Rischart in Viktuallienmarkt (when the weather is sunny)
Finally, you are not here for a piece of paper called transcript or diploma. You are here for a life changing experience. Enjoy!
