23M from the USA studying my masters in energy engineering in Munich, Germany.

I have enjoyed Munich so far (1 year in) and made some occasional, hang out sometimes on the weekends type friends, but no close friends I can talk to daily or every other day about anything deeper than surface level stuff. I am scared this will just continue if I choose to live here long term, as making friends in Germany without speaking German is notoriously hard. If I were offered an internship or full time position, I would make it a priority to learn German.

I was planning to go back to the US to start looking for jobs after graduating, but I might have an opportunity to intern and then maybe work at a famous Bavarian automotive company as a battery engineer. I love the benefits of working here and work-life balance, even at a lower salary. The salary at this company is also a bit higher than other companies in the region for my position.

This has got me thinking where would you guys recommend to stay?

Weather is not an issue for me as I really enjoy Munich’s weather — it is pretty similar to the Northeast where I’m from.

Thanks!

  • LearyBlaine@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Several perspectives to offer from another American living in Europe:

    1. Always at least TRY the extreme thing! If you don’t like it, you can always “relax” back into the “normal”/mainstream thing.
    2. You’re young, with no responsibilities. Enjoy that while it lasts! Soon enough you could have restraints on you.
    3. Understand that Europe is very tribal. The societies are all local and heavily emphasize conformity (to a much greater extent than the US, anyway). So, yeah, you’ll need to proactively seek-out the more “fringe” folks who could be interested in friendship with a foreigner. But there are expat communities everywhere, so you’ll be fine. It could just take a while. Get an active, outdoor hobby (tennis, sailing, motorcycling … anything), and join a local group. You can find online forums for any interest and locale. Basically, just start doing stuff that you like to do, then check-out who else is out there doing it also! Good luck to you!