¡Hola! Or should I say Hallo?
I just returned from my getaway in Munich, Germany. My girlfriend, Cam, is studying abroad in Freiburg for the summer, so we met in Munich to spend the weekend together. After a weekend full of delicious food (thus the blog title), beautiful sights, and lots of quality time, I’m back at home base for another week of work in Madrid.
Germany is the third country under my travel belt, even if inter-EU travel means there’s no passport stamp to show for it. While it has nothing on Madrid, Munich exceeded my expectations in so many ways, and I had an amazing weekend exploring.
Bright and early Friday morning, I arrived at the airport only to find out that, due to staffing problems and airline strikes, my original flight was cancelled. To my dismay, my 3-hour direct flight turned into a 12-hour travel day with layovers and delays. But my long travel day was all worth it when I arrived and got to see Cam!!
Culture shock #1 hit me when I walked off the train, and it was cool out??! It was the middle of the day, and it was barely 80 degrees and breezy outside. At 3 pm in Madrid, I would have been soaked in sweat, sunburnt, and exhausted walking around the city, so the temperate Munich climate was refreshing.
Culture shock #2 was that I could not stop speaking Spanish to people…I really tried to get out some “Guten Tags” and “Danke Schöns” when walking into restaurants, but I am so used to speaking Spanish that “hasta luego,” “gracias,” and “perdón” kept coming out instead. Apparently, Spanish has become second nature for me in my time here. As embarrassing as it was to walk into German establishments speaking Spanish in my American accent, it feels like a win that Spanish is coming so naturally to me now.
Now for a recap of my magical Munich weekend!!! Starting with food, of course, because we prioritized munching while in München. We found so many delicious gluten-free restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops. On Friday, we started off strong with yummy spring rolls and Pho noodle soup. Saturday morning, we found a gluten-free and vegan coffee shop that had fresh-baked cinnamon rolls and coffee. I grabbed some pretzel rolls on the way out (about as German as the weekend menu gets🥨) to save for a lunch picnic. Lunch featured fancy tinned fish souvenirs from Cam’s trip to Brussels and the pretzel rolls, which I will be dreaming of for the foreseeable future. Some gluten free Italian for dinner, at a subtly Disney-Pixar themed restaurant (very odd and not worth including in the photo dump). The digicam always ate first on this trip!!
Some sightseeing highlights included the Marienplatz and Neues Rathaus in the center of the city, and I was blown away by the beautiful architecture of the buildings. My favorite part was that many of the buildings at little sculpted figurines etched into the walls. We visited the Munich cathedral and took the elevator to the top floor for a view of the city. Then, we had a picnic lunch in the English Garden and watched the surfers and swimmers in the river there. Shoutout to the Munich public transportation system and my genius navigation skills (lol) for getting us around town this weekend.
It was such a great weekend, and as much as I love Spain, I was sad to leave. ¡Hasta luego Alemania!
As far as work and life in Spain, I truly can’t believe how fast time is moving! I only have 3 weeks of work left!
During my internship, my idea of “leadership” has looked a little different than it does in my club roles back at school. I’m at the bottom of the office totem pole, so I’m not leading my office team. However, I still am using leadership skills to self-motivate and take initiative.
With the more hands-off work culture, I’ve been “leading myself” in a way—organizing my day, identifying problems that need attention, and going above and beyond wherever I can. This self-drive and initiative translates to group leadership in classroom and club settings back at Pitt.
This past work week was busy with quarter-end reporting around the corner, which meant lots of new and exciting tasks for me. I really enjoyed diving into the more technical accounting aspects of the business, and was happy to be trusted with more responsibility at work.
Some Madrid highlights include picnicking in the park at El Templo de Debod, gelato, and shopping. Stay tuned for many more Madrid adventures to come. The clock is ticking on my study abroad experience, so the next few weeks will be packed with adventures, sightseeing, and fun.
Chao,
Rachel💌