One of my favorite plans is to visit museums. If you are passionate about art or science, in Munich you will find a lot of fun in each of the museums that this city has to discover. Some of the museums are unique in the world and here are some of the ones you can visit in this city:

• Deutsches Museum has one of the largest science and technology collections in the world, more than 100,000 objects. The exhibitions are varied and include topics such as mining, atomic physics, the environment, biotechnology, aviation, etc

• Museum of the City of Munich (Münchner Stadtmuseum) presents exhibitions dedicated to the city’s past and the history of civilization from the Middle Ages to the present.
• Egyptian Museum, presents one of the most interesting collections of Egyptian art in Germany.
• The three art galleries in Munich (Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothekk, Pinakothek der Moderne) are home to works that date from ancient times, contemporary works, and exhibitions of paintings by renowned artists, which make them very interesting attractions of the city.

Lina

One of the most popular festivals in Germany, held in Theresienwiese, born in the year 1810 with the wedding of Prince Louis I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

During my first Wiesn, I had several surprises: I always thought that the Oktoberfest was a party exclusively for drinking beer; This is not 100% true, you can enjoy typical Bavarian food while listening to typical German music. There are also mechanical attractions that you can enjoy on a sunny day, in the company of your friends. But the biggest surprise was seeing families with their young children enjoying this party, with sweets and souvenirs. Also, months before the German people look for the perfect Dirndl or Lederhosen for this party, is an exhausting plan, trust me, I did.

If one day you decide to live this wonderful bavarian tradition, one of the most important phrases you must learn is “Eine Maß Bier bitte”. If you don’t know the meaning the waiter surely does. Hehehe

Lina :)

When I was planning in Colombia my holidays for Europe, I noticed that it would arrive at a very cold season and that few people like it, Winter. I was a little scared. Many people told me that there would be nothing to see in those cold days. But when I arrived in Munich and saw the snow for the first time, I knew it would be my favorite season, I am not a person who loves sunny days with 30 degrees.

Although I agree with people that winter is very cold (at least here in Munich) the snow creates a unique atmosphere that allows you to share more time with your family and friends.

Suddenly, for me, to see how the snow falls and fills every little corner of the city, is live in a fairy tale, take a city tour to feel the charm of Marientplatz, then go to the Viktualienmarkt  buy something typical or go to Neuschwanstein Castle which in winter is a castle like in stories of Disney castle and in the end go home and end the day with a warm hug, is what allows me to say that winter is my favorite season.

Lina

Last week was my 30th birthday, an important number in a woman’s life, at lot of people say this in Colombia.

The day start in usual way, a little cold, then I went to my German class in DeutschAkademie. In the afternoon I met with my boyfriend for have lunch together, when we met, he had a bouquet of flowers for me. (He is very sweet). Then we went home and he had prepared an Apple pie for me.

We ate a little and, in the evening, we went out for dinner. And although the story seems normal so far for me it has 2 surprising moments: the first one I can’t believe that my boyfriend has decided to take a day of his vacation to spend my birthday with me, that in my country does not happen, the second one although my boyfriend baked a cake for me, here in Germany the person who celebrates his birthday is the person who should organize his celebration and even bring the birthday cake, in Colombia is the opposite the family and friends prepare the birthday celebration, including the birthday cake and the dinner.

Lina

Hey!

So, what am I learning in the DeutschAkademie?

Currently I am doing the B1.1 leven in german.  Although there is a lot to do, my teacher is the best I ever had and she deals with the chapters very well. 

About vocabulary, we have extended the words in fields such as the family, animals, the apartment, the adjectives…

In grammar we went through topics like präteritum, conjugations (obwohl, troztdem, falls, wenn…), passive, future, adjective declination…

Paying attention in class and understand what the teacher explains (obviously making how many questions you need) os as important as study at home: making the homework and writing some essays from time to time is the key.  

See you in the next post,

Chiara :) 

My first moments with the German language were not very pleasant; I felt confused, I didn’t understand anything in class. (Classes are 100% in German). But being in that situation allowed me to understand my mother’s words “You can always achieve what you want, if you really want to do it.” At that moment I remembered those words, because learning German is really my wish, so I started studying at home online by learning the German grammar explained in my native language. And they know something has been a good strategy.

I have improved a lot and I still remember my first words:

Hallo, ich heiße Lina.

Cheers, Lina :)

The beginnings are always very difficult, but the adventure of learning a new language that you have never thought of learning in your life is even more complicated.

I always heard that German is a very difficult language, and I think that the people who say these words are not 100% wrong, I don’t think it is very difficult or impossible, but if it has certain peculiarities that can turn it into a language nothing Easy for a person who has Spanish as a native language. Some of the peculiarities of which I speak are:

• The articles der, die, das, these do not always coincide with the articles of the nouns in Spanish. You have to memorize each noun with the article.
• Just as you have memorized the articles of nouns, it is also better to learn their plurals.
• In the Spanish language there are no famous declines in the German language, you have to learn concepts such as Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and learn by heart the rule of each one of them.
• German has bigger vocabulary and longer words than Spanish.
• The position of the verbs in some sentence’s changes, from the second to the end, that usually creates some confusion sometimes.
• But despite all these difficulties I think it is not impossible to learn, you just have to try so hard and one day your head clicks and you can understand your teacher in class.

Lina

Hey there!

Let’s talk about why to join a group course.

In my current group we are 11 people, all of them from different countries. The average age I would say is 26, so we are all more or less in the same mood.

I really like this group not only because they have a good level but they are really nice. I have fun during the lessons, we laugh quiet a lot. Also, everyone there understands each other, since we are all in the same position: trying to learn this tricky language. So, when it is difficult to someone to express him/herself or when somebody does not a word, everyone is there to be patient and help.

You can also learn from your collages. Many times, one of them said a word I have not heard before and I ask him/her what was the meaning. This person, nicely, explained it to me.

You can also get along with some of them and become friends. It is a nice way to meet people and you can speak in german with them!

This is a picture of the cards we use from time to time to play (and to practice) grammar and vocabulary in teams of 2 or 3. It is quiet fun but also really useful!

See you in the next post,

Chiara 😊

Hey again!

Did you know that die Deutschakademie has a free online course?

With it, you can go through all the topics, according to you level and test yourself.

You can practice vocabulary, grammar and listening.

First, you can choose your level. Then, select how many questions you want about the topic you decide to practice. It is great!

You will see your progress and which was the correct answer after every question.

From my point of view, it is really useful and it is for free!

I like to use it from time to time so I can practice german with new activities and it is also an easy and practical way to do it.

See you in the next post,

Chiara 😊

Hey!

The topic of this post is food! Yummy!

Germany has many different traditional food like the Würstchen, the Brezel or the Schnitzel.

I am vegetarian so what I most enjoy are “Kartoffeln” (potatoes) but also the Kasekuchen (cheesecake)! Oh my god, you have no idea how delicious it is -and I am not a person really into sweet food.

My host mum (remember I am an Aupair) cooks the Kasekuchen from time to time -here is a picture of it – and it is so good.

One thing I love about Germany is this kind of bakeries they have (that we do not have in Spain) where you can find every kind of bread and snack.

I embrace you to go out, try new things in the bakeries, coffee shops and restaurants and feel the german soul all over you stomach. Also, Christmas is coming and so many delicious things will be in the Christmas market! – as well as the hot wine :P

See you in the next post,

Chiara 😊