Five-Month-Iversay

Five months, two days, and 12 hours ago I arrived here in Muenchen, all starry-eyed and lost and looking forward to, well something new. I had no idea what to expect, and really tried not to expect anything really and just see what the year would bring. Here I am now 5 months into my year, and it somehow feels like it has been so much more. These past five months have seemed a lifetime. Jam-packed full of firsts, challenges, lessons-learned (and not ;-), joys, excitement and adventure, failures and successes, ups and downs…in short, life.

When I talk to people from home, they always ask how it’s going, what I’ve been up to of late…and more importantly if I’ve had any crazy adventures or wild escapades. And the answer is of course that it’s life. That I’ve experienced moments of really high highs and moments of the lowest of lows, and every thing in between during my time here. And to be completely honest with you all, I go through phases, as far as how I feel about Munich and about my time here. At times I am completely and utterly content, and other times I’d like nothing more than run home (or to my second home, Italia) and be immersed in the kind of comfort and ease that one only finds when surrounded by family and friends, those who love and know you best. But you know, I came into this experience expecting, knowing it would challenge me, that it wasn’t meant to be all good. As is the case no matter where you happen to be living or what you are doing at any given time. And me being the soul-searcher and deep thinker that I am, am even more prone to these fluctuations in mood and contentment. But hey that’s life. Life is rarely smooth sailing. The very nature of life is to throw you for a curve ball, to bring the unexpected, to be unpredictable. And when you make the decision to take yourself out of your comfort zone and jump into a completely different life, in a place you don’t know, where they speak a language you know nothing about, and where you know no one, well it’s bound to take life’s normal ability to challenge and increase by ten fold. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to after these 5 months.

That said, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. I am a firm believer in the “every happening for a reason” theory on life, and I already know that had I not come to Munich exactly when I did, I would have never met that people I did (some of who I consider to be lifelong friends), or had the experiences I’ve had or learned the lessons I have. So, let’s just say the five-month verdict is: life is good! And I am happy here.