Luke Grella, German Language and Culture in Munich, Summer 2026
Living in Munich took some getting used to, but it turned out to be quite easy.
For starters, Munich has various modes of public transportation: trams, buses, trains, subways. And for about 50 Euro one can buy a pass that allows unlimited travel on all. All modes of transportation are very technologically advanced and have screens that tell one exactly what stop they are at and how long it will be until they reach the next few. The transportation is very orderly and almost always arrives exactly on time.
Munich as a city is also very walkable and there are plenty of places to eat no matter where you find yourself.
Food seemed much more affordable than it is in the United States and there were many times that from a bakery I’d grab a quick, well-made sandwich for only about 5 Euro.
Now, I will say one thing that never got easier was that most stores, including grocery stores, are closed on Sundays. This meant that I’d have to prepare and manage my time in such a way that I’d have what I’d need on Sunday. This preparation rarely materialized. I think that besides this one quirk of Munich, everything was very accessible and the city was easy to navigate.
The subway line that I took to class was down due to maintenance for about three out of the five weeks that I was there, but even this proved to be only a minor inconvenience. In lieu of the subway, the city set up a very robust bus shuttle system which was easy to use. Large fleets of buses would come at preordained times to take various people to their respective locations.
Also, most people speak English in Munich so even when I couldn’t say something correctly in German, I could use English to make a request or ask for something.
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