To throw myself at 22 years of age into the third-largest city in Germany – where you truly feel that life here is on an unceasing run – is, by far, the craziest, yet bravest thing I have ever done. Like Alice in Wonderland, I stepped, timidly and reservedly at first, into this adventure. It was a rollercoaster of overwhelming feelings: from exhilaration and waves of joyful laughter to immense fears, self-doubt, and scenarios. ‘What if I mess things up?’ ‘Will I be able to meet the expectations here?’ Yet, my Erasmus experience as a whole has taught me what I never thought it would: to live in the present (no matter how cliché it might sound), to fully immerse myself in whatever is happening in my life at this very moment – good or bad.

The place where I lived throughout my Erasmus mobility is a village (the former Olympic Village), which now belongs entirely to the students in Munich. The colorful Olydorf, my home for more than four months, gave me a sense of belonging. The place was mostly inhabited by students from all over the world, mostly from Asia, the Middle East, Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, and France (not so much from Romania). Still, I felt at home there, perhaps because I was among people with whom I shared the frightening, restless feeling of missing the ‘familiarity’ of a place, people who were, somehow, looking for the feeling of a ‘home’ far away from home.

Being a student at the Amerika-Institut LMU is a dream come true which, realistically, I did not fully grasp until I came here. The MA program I am currently enrolled in has brought me limitless opportunities and thorough knowledge of the American culture, history, and arts – with all its major branches – literature, painting, film, photography. I have been honored to learn from some of the best professors in Munich and to benefit from all the activities organized by the Institute. Among the many Erasmus memories I have made here, I believe the most poignant experience will forever remain the evening when, guided by our seminar professor, Sophia Hörl, my colleagues and I watched - at the Marstall Theater - the play Blues in Schwarz Weiss, with a text adaptation after May Ayim’s work. The power of the play’s message and the emotional discussions we had with our Professor following the artistic act were at the same time impactful and inspirational.

In the History and Memory class – meant to offer a comparative perspective between the United States and Germany, bringing students from the University of Georgia at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich –, Dr. Andreas Etges organized a guided visit to the Jewish Museum, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, and Nuremberg. We have learned how important it is to preserve the memory of horrific events from the history of a nation and how fragile democracy can be, as well as to compare the history of Germany, deeply affected by the Second World War and the horrors of Holocaust, with the history of the United States and thus analyze issues such as slavery, the Civil War and racism in the context of preserving and remembering difficult pasts.

Munich offers tremendously many cultural and social possibilities, from historical landmarks, remarkable art exhibitions, and overwhelmingly emotional plays or operettas to music festivals, outdoor and indoor parties, concerts of various musical genres, from rock or pop to folk, alternative/indie, or electronic music. I enjoyed all this within the framework of the Erasmus program, which makes me encourage any student to apply for this grant. Erasmus ranks highly among the (many) truly exciting parts of studying in the American Studies MA program at WUT.