Hello everyone! My name is Max Rimdzius and I am a Senior Industrial Engineer. I am participating in the “Engineering the German Way” program this year in Munich. We arrived in Munich a few days ago now, and I believe that I have already had my first “wow” moment.
I have been to Europe once before, and can remember that the buildings had much history to them. That realization came alive again once I stepped foot in Munich! I was standing in the middle of Marienplatz, which is the large city center of the Old Town of Munich. There, I was surrounded by buildings that were hundreds of years old and looked like they came straight out of a Harry Potter book!
New Town Hall was the first to catch my eye, with its gothic style and carved stone making a dramatic view. The Glockenspiel can be viewed from the New Town Hall as well, only playing at 11 am and 12 pm, while playing at 5 pm in the summer months. I was at the 5 pm viewing this afternoon, and seeing the life-size wooden figures dancing, I suddenly felt how far away I was from Pittsburgh. I’m used to sleek buildings, grid-planned housing, and a very American style streets. Here, though, every corner seemed to have much history of the past.
While I was walking Munich’s cobblestone streets, I couldn’t resist snapping photo after photo. There was something new to see around every corner. They were not just old buildings, as we often have in America; they were hundreds of years old and quite vibrant in the city’s life. The Cathedral of Learning has some similarities to these buildings, however it is not anything compared to the detail of these buildings in Munich. Shops operate out of buildings that are older than America itself. (Which is an amazing thing to say!
It made me very much aware that I was actually in a foreign country. Not so much the food or the language, but it was a feeling of time that made me stop in my tracks. It helped me see how much culture and values reflect in architecture. In America, we equate newness with progress. In Munich, preserving the past seems as important as moving ahead.
This experience as a learning experience opened my eyes to how differently cultures look at their histories. It reminded me to remain curious and observe not just what is happening around me, but what it says about the people who live there. I grew to appreciate the value of slowing down, of noticing the details like the carvings on a door or the wear on a stone staircase. That Marienplatz time was some amazing sightseeing. It was a nice reminder that traveling can show you new things that are just not the same as looking at photos!