At this point in my life, I’d be lying if I said I knew where I would be or what I would be doing in five years. After spending 3 weeks in Munich though, I can say that ending up back here is far from off the table.
If I were to come back, I would definitely return to Bavaria, but not necessarily Munich. While Munich has been a great city and I haven’t had any issues with it that would preclude me from making it my permanent home, I’ve realized since I arrived at Pitt that I like to have lots of green around me and a city like Munich isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. Luckily, the area surrounding Munich has that in spades. Further south in Bavaria you can find the German alps, a beautiful, towering mountain range that has gorgeous hiking in the spring, summer, and fall and excellent skiing in the winter. There are also plenty of lakes in the area that are perfect for day trips, with swimming and kayaking in clear, cool water being a great cure for a 90-degree summer day.
If I were living in Germany, I would then have to be working in Germany barring a surprise lottery win. I don’t know exactly what I would be doing, but I think it would involve working to develop sustainable energy systems within Germany. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned so far in my classes, it’s that building an energy grid that is entirely based on renewable energy will take a lot of hard work. Germany is currently one of the world’s leaders in sustainable energy use, and still it only accounts for 10% of their energy consumption. A colossal amount of solar panels, wind farms, and batteries are going to be needed before Germany can become completely renewable, and I would like to work for a company that would be involved in making this dream a reality. Whether that would be evaluating locations that would be suitable for such sites or helping optimize the production and shipping of related materials I don’t know, but I would be happy as long as I’m involved in the process.
If I come back, there are so many things that I would try to start doing. I’ve seen countless people paragliding in the Alps and it has always looked like a blast, so I might try that out a couple of times. Like I mentioned earlier, I would try to take advantage of all the great skiing and hiking in the area. Also, since Bavaria is so centrally located within Europe, I would take lots of time to travel. Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and France are all within five hours.
