Munich

Hallo!  It's time for a long overdue update.  I've been in Munich for almost a week and already so much has happened!  I guess I'll start from the beginning...

After twenty hours of travel from Thailand and a fascinating conversation with a Munchener on one of my flights, I finally arrived in Munich late Wednesday night.  Little did I know that getting to Munich was only half the battle.  Turns out, finding my hostel for the night would be far more challenging.  After an hour and a half struggle with the public transportation system and after roaming around the center of Munich with my luggage in tow, I finally made it to my hostel only to be greeted by drunk tourists.  This would serve as a fitting introduction to the city of beer.

I hit the ground running when I arrived in Munich.  I spent Thursday all day in lab getting acquainted with the environment and listening to research talks.  On Friday, I connected with nine fellow DAADers in Munich; we explored Munich, grabbed some delicious gelato, and hit up one of the most famous beer gardens in the English Gardens, a massive public garden.

Beer gardens are one of the more interesting traditions I've encountered so far in Munich.  People used to store beer underground under trees in the summertime to keep the beer cool.  As a result, these trees became social gathering spots as people mingled and drank beer.  Although the beer is no longer stored under trees, beer gardens are nevertheless a popular gathering spot.  True to form, that Friday night, the beer garden was packed with tourists and locals alike--all brought together to enjoy a cold liter of beer.

After making new friends on Friday, I set off on Saturday for a day trip to Dachau with my new friends.  Dachau is a little suburb near the outskirts of Munich.  Dachau is also the site of a historical WWII concentration camp--the first concentration camp in Germany that would serve as a model for all the other concentration camps.  There's no denying that the history is grim, but as I perused the museum set up on the concentration camp, I was impressed with how openly the German people have faced their own history.  None of the atrocities were glossed over one bit, and the personal stories the museum documented were perhaps the most heart-wrenching.  I know a concentration camp is a strange destination on my first weekend in Munich, but I'm committed to learning as much as I can about Germany--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The inscription on the entrance gate to the Dachau concentration camp says "work brings freedom."  Nazi propaganda.

The memorial for the Dachau victims constructed where barracks of the concentration camp once stood.

While Dachau is best known for the concentration camp, the town itself is beautiful.  In Dachau, we explored some of the gardens of the small castle in the town and ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the entire Munich countryside.  I also tried Munich's famous weisswurst, which is an unmistakable white sausage.

Quaint Dachau, cobblestones and all.

Our view of Munich from our restaurant

Gardens--it looks so perfect it could be fake.  But it's real!

Sunday, I decided to explore the Deutsches Museum with my friends here.  Simply put, this is the best museum in the world.  We spent almost five hours in the museum on Sunday, but explored only 1/3 of the entire museum.  Furthermore, exhibits ranged from aeronautics to optics to pharmaceuticals to musical instruments to mining to astronomy.  Almost any topic you could imagine was there!

Part of the Deutsches Museum is on the left.  The museum is on its own island on the Isar river.

A high voltage show inside the museum.  I couldn't upload my video of the picture in action, but that's thousands of voltage of electricity right there!

Sunday was also probably the nerdiest I've felt in my whole life.  I didn't hold back from the "oohs" and "ahhs" and childlike wonder for all the toys and exhibits the museum contains!  I know I will be returning to the museum in the future to continue my exploration of the exhibits (especially since it's only 3 euro for students on Sundays!).

Work wise, I'm still getting used to the new environment.  I just had my first official day of work today, where I learned more about my project and began running experiments.  There's a lot to learn, but I'm so excited!  I'm also ecstatic to continue exploring Munich and the surrounding area.  The new friends I've made here have been wonderful companions who share my desire to explore and travel.  There's simply too much to do and too much to see in eleven weeks!