1 year of living in München

Exactly 1 year ago we arrived in Munich. New country, new city, new job, new life.

This post is about living here: a personal opinion what was wondering and unusual comparing to the Ukraine, what is really good and what annoys every day.

So, the list of facts:

1. Pure alpine drinking water straight from the tap.
2. The city is really expensive.
3. Almost all bureaucracy is done in one place – Bürgerbüro. Quite convenient.
4. Forget the German punctuality. It is a myth. Especially a transport system.
5. Beer, brezel and grill 🍽
6. Beer has the same tax percentage as the must-have food products. We are in the capital of brewing after all!
7. Most of people use only cash. It is a usual situation to wait in the queue while someone is collecting coins from his wallet for the required sum.
8. Buy electricity like the internet 😎 for the apartment.
9. Have a bike? Its great! You will be faster than public transport: the well-made bike-roads are almost on every street, and it is really convenient.
10. Have health problems and need to visit a doctor? Ok, you can do it at the end of the next month.
11. System trusts you. You can take a train to Austria and there is a big chance that your ticket will not be validated at all. You can show the photo of the passport on your mobile phone, and it will be enough to update your data in the Bürgerbüro.
12. Locals hear that you are an emigrant and can’t speak Deutsch well and… they don’t care. Do not expect them to repeat 20 times, speak to you slowly or switch to English.
13. The roads are really good. Both for cars and for pedestrians. You can not be afraid walking late in the dark that you fall into some kind of pit 😄
14. The government doesn’t care much about your health and doesn’t provide any possibility to have regularly a complete health examination. Fortunately, insurance companies have bonus programs for this.
15. Beer gardens are on every corner. And usually they have a quite cozy format.
16. Banks update your account balance within 3 days after using a card in the store 😐
17. Do not expect that it is possible to pay using a card everywhere. Really…
18. Traffic lights do not switch immediately: after turning on the red light for pedestrians, it takes 5 seconds roughly before turning on the green for cars.
19. The only important holiday here is Christmas. Bavarians are preparing for it the whole December. At the beginning of the month people have already decorated houses and apartments. The first fairs are also opening. But all celebrations end exactly on the 25th. After it all fairs are closed and all decorations are removed.
20. For celebrating the New Year Germans buy a lot of fireworks. At 24:00 the city becomes the military training ground: everyone starts a fire on every street. Looks amazing and horrifying at the same time.
21. Fungus and mold are common things in Bavarian houses.
22. The tax system is very complicated. But if you are smart enough, you can get a lot of money back.
23. The Germans cure cold and flu with… nothing. Doctor prescribes only to stay at home, sleep and drink tea. “Immune system must work and cope with the disease itself.” No pills. Have a high temperature at around 39 C? “Drink additionally 2 liters of water.”
24. There are many different huge and well-maintained parks. A lot of space to do sports activities!
25. For almost every bottle bought in the store you pay also the deposit. To receive it back you should return the empty bottle.
26. The sound of empty bottles in the Saturday's morning on the street is a usual thing 😆 People drink a lot, collect bottles and by the end of the week bring them back to the store.
27. Streets are washed regularly. They are very clean even after a rain.
28. Toilets are paid everywhere. In shopping malls and even in bars and breweries might be a person who collects coins from each visitor. Despite your expenses in the establishment.
29. City cares about people: prepares all pedestrian roads for the winter by covering them with small stones. And removes them in the spring.
30. The mail delivery is done mostly to the apartment address. And it is usual that your neighbor accepts your post boxes while you are not at home.
31. Also, delivery might leave your package in front of the door. No one will touch it.
32. You will never learn the Bavarian dialect.
33. The Bavarians greatly honor their traditions. At festivals, there are just a huge number of people in national clothes.
34. Everything is done using old-school paper mail. Fortunately, it also works well here.
35. Do not make photos and videos of people and their property outside the tourist center. They don’t like it, they care much about privacy and will complain.
36. Everything is about insurance. It is better to have it for every case. And it is really easy to buy any without going somewhere or providing any document. Just online.
37. All building facades are clean and updated.
38. Opening of a bank account is done online without visiting the bank branch. Moreover, many banks don’t have it at all.
39. The streets are poorly lit. There is no lighting at all on highways. On the other hand, this way stars are quite visible on the sky.
40. Want to make a money transfer in a bank branch? Go there, fill in the paper form with the information from what account and to what. And wait several days while bank is sending your request using the post to Frankfurt (kind of capital of the whole banking system) and only then performing the actual transfer. Welcome to the era of Internet 😭
41. Prepare tons of papers including information who you are, what last salary payments did you get, what credit history do you have, your job contract and documents to get to the interview for… apartment. Along with the other 50 applicants this day. Of course if you are lucky enough to be in that 50 people out of 1000 requests, and have a German family name… In short how difficult to find an apartment for rent here.
42. No, the Alps are not visible so clear and cool like on the post’s header picture 😋