British expat Simon muses about drift and determination in Munich’s expat circles and finds that many of his expat friends have decided not to move to the UK again once their job has come to an end. So what attracts a British expat to life in Germany?

As I ordered a burrito in Taco Libre the other day, a lady who works there asked me if was staying in Munich for good. I was already in conversation with her colleague who had spotted I wasn’t native (it isn’t hard) and asked where I was from. She recognised me as a regular customer and joined in. Both of them had lived in London, him in bustling Kings Cross with its lively night life. She talked more about Twickenham and the leafy West, where her friends had once lived on a house boat on the Thames. Both had a lot of good things to say about London, but agreed that life in Munich was a lot more pleasant.

It is, but to stay here for good? – It’s a common enough question, along with ‘Don’t you miss London?’ and ‘How’s your German these days?’, but I still don’t have a great answer for it (nor the others). “I dunno”.

It’s not fashionable in expat circles to get sentimental about your homeland and particularly amongst the English in Munich. England can seem a bit gloomy compared with the sparkling good life in Bavaria. The cleanliness, efficiency and alpine scenes all seem a world away from run down Britain with her riots and economic hardships. Why complain? Perhaps the gloss of continental life to an Englishman can best be illustrated by a friend of mine who lost his job out here and described his intentions to a group of us out sunning ourselves in a beer garden. With limited German he knew a return to Blighty was the most logical step, yet resolved that his only criteria for a new job was ‘Anywhere but back to England’ – we all knew what he meant.

Of course, it’s not just the English who seem to find themselves drawn to longer stays in Munich, or indeed to an extended life on the road. Munich is full of foreigners. Many of them have spent long periods living ambassadorial-type existences, shipping possessions, lives and often families between foreign postings. Mostly, these one-posting-to-the-next expats seem to thrive on this style of existence and appear more broad-minded for their experiences as well as genuinely optimistic. They have kicked sentimentality about where to live out of their lives and are enjoying the limitless possibilities this affords them. Also, nearly all of them have a plan. Moving has become a routine, but you get the sense that they are in control of where it is they will finally end up.

Perhaps more common are the long-termers who for one reason or another find they never leave. Here you tend to find the odd bit of nostalgia pop into conversation once in a while. You get the sense that they are here through drift as much as choice and maybe do have their regretful moments. Munich sure is a tough place to leave.

I myself would like to make a decision, rather than just drift into it; though after nearly two years I’m not sure I am any closer to having a better answer to the lady’s question. There are some great practical reasons to stay in Munich. If you have the choice, a life in Munich is a great offer. Yet over time my sentiment for London and England grows. I have started to watch more English tele, to wake up thinking about friends at home, to pine after an all-day breakfast with proper bacon! And I have a nasty feeling these are sentiments that will only grow, which is a shame really, because I bet I’d miss Bavaria twice as much if I went back home.

Thank you Simon Goodall for your contribution to our blog.

Photos 3&4 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This week sees the final round of introduction of our new Local Communities. Read on to find out more about the cities and the local InterNations crowd.

Birmingham, UK

With a population of over 1 million, Birmingham is second only to London in terms of numbers. The city has come a long way since spearheading the industrial revolution in the 18th century, when Birmingham was at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and industrial organisation. Today, “Brum” (as it is jokingly called) has made its reputation as an international centre of commerce. Not only is it known as the UK’s third best shopping location, but it has also established itself as a conference and trade centre.

Birmingham is the UK’s second city in another respect, too: With three universities and 2 university colleges, it has the largest higher education student population outside London. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Birmingham has been the cradle of many groundbreaking scientific inventions, such as the use of radiography in operations, gas lighting, and … custard powder. While it is often considered the birthplace of heavy metal music, Birmingham’s arts and culture scene caters for all tastes, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as an outstanding representative of the city’s more highbrow cultural institutions. Furthermore, Birmingham boasts an interesting blend of old and modern architecture.

The InterNations Community in Birmingham boasts over 260 members and is actively supported by its Ambassador Deepah Pathak, a “Brummie” born and bred. Deepah has lived in the USA and in Germany, but has been back in Birmingham since 2008. This mixture of local knowledge and international experience makes him the perfect candidate for the job, and we wish him and the whole Community a great start!

Freiburg, Germany

Let’s visit another renowned university town, this time in Germany. Freiburg, which hosts one of Germany’s oldest and most famous universities, is an important centre for research in biotechnology and solar energy. Together with several other higher education and research institutions, the university has a defining impact on the city’s social and cultural life, as well as on the employment market. Thanks to the high student population, what might otherwise be a sleepy town bordering the Black Forest is in fact a lively and culturally diverse place.

Other than that, Germany’s southernmost city is mainly famous for its sunny and warm climate. At the heart of a major wine growing region, the “gate to the Black Forest” attracts huge numbers of tourists every year, who regularly flood the narrow alleyways of the historic town centre with its unusual system of little gutters, called “Bächle”.

Our Local Ambassador Natalya Mikhailova has been living in Freiburg since 2007, where she is now looking after the InterNations Freiburg Community, currently counting more than 150 members. New York-born Natalya is Belorussian by origin and has previously lived in Russia and Lithuania. We believe that Natalya’s international background will be of great benefit to her new role as an InterNations Ambassador and we hope she’ll enjoy it!

The Munich InterNations Community’s May Event took place at the stylish club P1. With 1,334 people on the guest list from 87 different nationalities – the highest number in InterNations history – the Event was quite a hit!

Located behind the famous Munich Haus der Kunst, the P1 club is renowned among the party-loving Munich residents for its weekend parties and celebrated DJs who frequent the place on a regular basis. The club owners and bartenders as well as bus boys were incredibly helpful and courteous to the InterNations team and the guests. They managed to serve the over 850 attendees delicious cocktails and a refreshing fruity welcome drink of Prosecco & schwarze Dose, an energy drink, which seemed to have gotten the already high spirits even higher!!
The festivities began outdoors under several “funnel umbrellas” with a DJ playing the latest hits. The mood was set by the different colored floodlights shining into the slowly darkening sky.

As hands were shaken, glasses clinked, names spelled out and pronounced, name tags scrutinized and flags discerned, one began to feel the spirit of InterNations. A myriad of languages was spoken and laughter resounded off the museum’s brick walls. People were discussing work, life abroad, their families and friends, their home cultures and pretty much anything under the sun, finding common interests and tastes!

Armin Krusko from Bosnia and Marie Aziz from Ireland, manned the Newcomers Desk, introducing new members to each other and enabling them to get a feel for InterNations. It was also interesting to see that not so long ago, two InterNations members were then also newcomers in Düsseldorf, and are now married. One of the evening’s success stories!

InterNations Ambassadors from other Communities were also in attendance. Among others, Silvia Scheibenbogen, the Brisbane Ambassador, and Jamie Collinsworth from the United States, the soon-to-be Ambassador of the new Nurnberg Community, took quite a delight in the party atmosphere.

Spirits were not dampened when the forecast thunderstorms and “mini-monsoon” hit the P1 guests hard! Despite wet feet and frizzy hair, the party carried on way into the early morning hours, naturally having moved onto the dance floors of the catacombs that are P1.

InterNations founders Philipp von Plato and Malte Zeeck mingled with the guests, greeting new and old faces. Unfortunately Munich Ambassador Patrick Kessler was away on a business trip in China, but his co-Ambassador Patrick Brennan took charge and made sure everyone felt comfortable.

All in all, thanks to those who came and those who helped organize it, this was one cracking Event! We hope to see everyone who attended and many more at future InterNations Munich Expat Community Events – and to the other InterNations Communities out there: let’s try to reach that record high too!!!

Photos courtesy of InterNations and Wikimedia Commons.

InterNations co-founder Malte Zeeck visited the Duesseldorf Expat Community’s May Event in order to say goodbye to the Ambassadors and look around for potential new ones. He also met up with the Bonn Community Ambassador to chat about future Events. Read on to find out what he experienced!

185 members on the guest list is a record for the Duesseldorf InterNations Community! Members made sure to come because the venue for the Event was quite special. First off, the location of the event was the DOX Bar at the new Hyatt Hotel in Duesseldorf’s media harbor. The five-star hotel opened in 2010 and for many attending members this was a great opportunity to check out this location. Secondly however, most members pouring into the bar wanted to get the chance to say goodbye to Javier Esteve, who has been serving as the Duesseldorf InterNations Ambassadors for the last two years and who hosted his last InterNations Event in Duesseldorf that night. Javier is from Valencia and has been working as an international project manager in Duesseldorf since 2008 and recently decided to move back to his home city. Since his Co-Ambassador Veronika Hemesath, who was unable to attend the farewell event, will also be stepping down from the position, we are looking for a qualified successor to become the new InterNations Ambassador for this Community in Germany with about 2150 members.

The Hyatt turned out to be a great choice and the bar was quickly populated by members from about 45 different nationalities, who were animatedly interacting with each other. The terrace to the River Rhine served as an airy space for the smokers among the guests while also offering a great view. A bar table served as a lectern so I was able to say a few words to the members. The crowd loudly cheered and applauded Javier for his commitment and dedication to this Community.

The InterNations Ambassadors from the Ruhr Area Community, Alejandra Gestoso, and Stephan Bense from the Cologne Community, also paid a tribute to Javier. Quite a few members expressed their interest in becoming Javier’s successor so that the Community can look forward to seeing a new Ambassador team in Duesseldorf very soon. It turned out to be a successful night and people stayed quite late.

The next day I took the train to meet with Olga Domanova for lunch. Olga is our InterNations Ambassador for the Bonn Community. Olga is originally from St. Petersburg and has been living in Bonn for 4 years studying and working in biomedical image processing at the Fraunhofer Institute. Unfortunately her Co-Ambassador, Karim El-Khazen from Beirut is traveling so he was unable to join us for lunch.

The Bonn Community has grown quite rapidly since its official start as a Community in March of this year, so that there are already more than 705 members of which about 100 take part in the events in Bonn. Over tasty Italian pasta we talked about the future of the Bonn Community and I was happy to share some experiences with Olga which we made by organizing events in more than 170 cities. The June Event in Bonn will most likely be taking place at the Maritim Hotel. Members really have something to look forward to!

Fotos courtesy of Malte Zeeck and Wikimedia Commons.

Especially in Germany, we added a batch of several InterNations Local Communities about two weeks ago. In addition to splitting our previous Rhineland Community into three separate ones for the cities of Bonn, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, we also wanted to create a proper InterNations home for our members in some local groups based in southern Germany.

Stuttgart, the 6th biggest city in the country and thus the largest of the towns in question, is well-known as an affluent centre of small and mid-sized local enterprises, but also as the seat of global companies such as Daimler, Porsche, and Bosch. Moreover, the beautiful city, appreciated for its castles and palaces as well as large public gardens, houses Germany’s second most important stock exchange and several institutions of the United States Armed Forces in Europe. The latter is the reason why there is a considerable number of US citizens among the 20% foreign-born residents of Stuttgart’s population.

InterNations Ambassador Laura Natusch is one of them. She came to Germany in order to offer psychological services and her previous experience as a family therapist to the spouses and children of US military staff stationed in Europe. For InterNations, she regularly organizes and hosts the monthly gathering, together with her Co-Ambassador Hamdo Hurtic. Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hamdo has a B. A. in international relations and global studies from a New York university, but now works for the USAF family and morale welfare and recreation services in the Stuttgart area.

Just like Stuttgart, its northern (and much smaller) neighbour Heidelberg might be familiar to US Americans due to the military forces still stationed in the city. However, by 2015, most of Heidelberg’s 16.000 US American residents will have left the town to move to a different base. But the quaint town by the River Neckar will keep attracting expatriates, thanks to its strong service sector, its venerable university (the oldest in Germany) and the many related research institutes. Once famous for 19th-century Romantic poetry and traditional student life, Heidelberg’s university now supports cutting-edge research in the fields of medicine, bio-technology, and the life sciences.

One of our local InterNations Ambassadors, Vera Herkommer, is indeed employed by the EMBL, the European Molecular Bio Laboratory, one of the many similar institutes located in Heidelberg. Vera is Co-Ambassador to David Rüngen, a German resident with strong ties to Italy and Spain. Together, they will do their best to make all expats feel welcome in Heidelberg’s “merry alleys” and “fragrant gardens” (as described by the German lyric poet Friedrich Hölderlin).

Similar to Heidelberg, Regensburg, a Bavarian town of comparable size, is popular among residents, visitors, and tourists for its historical city centre and architectural heritage. But while Regensburg’s magnificent cathedral, its medieval bridge across the Danube, the cobbled, crooked lanes and turreted skyline were classified as UNESCO World Heritage a few years ago, its university cannot compare to Heidelberg’s long tradition of learning. Regensburg’s modern campus outside the city centre was not established until the 1960s: however, it helped considerably to boost the city’s economy. Today, Regensburg has a fairly high employment rate, housing many companies from the electronic and automotive industries as well the IT sector and life sciences.

Our two Regensburg Ambassadors, Marcello Melis and Giuseppe Travaglini, are both Italian engineers working for a big automobile company in the region. Giuseppe had come to Regensburg before, as an exchange student in the Erasmus programme, and the town’s almost mediterranean charm (with its numerous cafés and piazzas, it’s sometimes called “the northernmost city of Italy”) lured him back. So far, they have held several expat meetings in Regensburg, to great acclaim.

(Pictures courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

Rafaela, our social media marketing intern, attended her first InterNations event last week. It looks like she had a great time…

Oh Baby! was my first InterNations event, and I’m sure I will never forget it. I am from Austria and moved to Munich in January, when I started my internship at InterNations. Since I couldn’t make it to the InterNations event in January, I was pretty excited to finally attend one of the official monthly gatherings. The February get-together took place on Wednesday 23rd from 8:00 p.m. onwards at Baby! – one of the best known and most exclusive clubs in the city. As some of my work colleagues had to help out at the event that night, I met up with another member of the InterNations Munich community in front of the club: Gabrielle, who is also from Austria, and I got to know each other through the InterNations network some weeks ago.

When we entered the club at around 9:00 p.m., I was quite impressed by how many people had shown up.The venue was crowded and all guests were engaged in animated conversation. People were chatting, drinking, dancing and exchanging phone numbers, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I can’t deny that I was amazed by how many expats there are in Munich. As I found out today, nearly 350 members from many different nations had attended the event! Even though the location appeared a little bit small at times to hold such a big function, I think the evening was a great success. My friend and I certainly had a good time and got to know other global minds and expats from all around the world.

Now that I have attended my first InterNations event, I can say that I had a great night out and that I’m happy to be part of the InterNations team and the InterNations community in Munich. I love to meet exciting and like-minded people and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

Photos courtesy of Hagen von Deylen

InterNations co-founder Malte Zeeck paid a visit to our Frankfurt Community last week – here are some of his impressions from his short trip:

It’s only a three hour train ride from Munich, but Frankfurt – the financial and international hub of Germany – is completely different from the larger, yet more laid-back city near the Alps. Skyscrapers made of steel and glass and the international airport (Germany’s biggest employer and one of the ten busiest airports in the world) shape the European banking metropolis today. People from almost 180 nations are currently living in the multi-national city on the river Main – almost every third resident of Frankfurt doesn’t have a German passport.

With more than 4,200 members, the Frankfurt InterNations Community ranks #15 on a global scale, behind others of our German communities, i.e. those in Munich and Berlin. Nonetheless, Frankfurt is one of the most active communities when it comes to events and our members’ involvement. Within a mere several months, our Ambassador trio – consisting of Andreas Wiedow, Steven Dierckx and Monica Castellano – have managed to increase the attendance of their monthly events to almost 300 participants. Moreover, there is a fairly active group landscape, too. Be it the Wine Lovers in the Frankfurt Area, the Alice’s Restaurant Brunches & Dinners or the Monday Café Crawl organized by Marie-Francoise Marques, members meet up on a very regular basis.

More than 300 members from some 50+ nationalities have signed up for the January InterNations Event at the Sky Club (formerly the well known Galleria bar, which used to be the nightlife hotspot for Frankfurt’s bankers, brokers and beauties). There is a special reason for members to join this monthly get-together: two Ambassadors will be saying good-bye after bringing the Frankfurt InterNations Community to life over the last two years. Fortunately, both will not be lost to InterNations. Andreas, who was the first Ambassador in Frankfurt, is going to focus on organizing regular business networking events with different speakers on expat-relevant topics in the context of his InterNations Professional Networking Group in Frankfurt. Steven, one of the most sociable Italians living in Frankfurt, is about to movie to Milan. He will continue to be a member and might even get more involved in our Milan Community.

However, Monica will team up with Henri Maurer, a charismatic Belgian banker, to lead the Frankfurt InterNations Community in the future. They will make sure to keep the great momentum going by organizing our monthly events in more fascinating venues.

At night, the SkyClub is packed with members from Finland, the USA, Spain, Italy, China, and many other nationalities. Around the buffet, members are mingling and getting to know each other: the colourful flags on their nametags make many first conversations a lot easier. When it’s time for our two departing Ambassadors to say their farewells, they receive a well-deserved applause from the guests. But then, after 10pm, there’s no more time for melancholy and nostalgia: the music kicks in, and the general socializing turns into a rousing party. Unfortunately, it’s a Thursday, and I thus have to be back at the InterNations office the next morning, or I’d have stayed much longer to see if the Frankfurt crowd has the same stamina as the one in Munich when it comes to dancing the night away…

(Photos by Steven Dierckx. Thank you!)

It was indeed this popular Christmas hit that happened to be on the radio when all team members were crammed into the back of a rental mini-bus, heading for the Tegernsee, a lake resort and popular recreation area in the Bavarian Alps. The weather gods, however, didn’t need any extra encouragement. It had been snowing all over Germany for the past few days, and many a nervous driver on the motorway south seemed to be less than excited about the current road conditions. Despite the continuous snowfall, we did make it to the Wallberg more or less on time. With a height of 1,700 metres, this mountain may be a mere dwarf compared to other peaks and ranges in the Alps, but it does boast the distinct advantage of featuring Germany’s longest toboggan run. As soon as we had reached the summit via the gondola lift and warmed up a little with a cup of mulled wine from the panorama restaurant, we grabbed our sledges, and down we went.

Everyone who might have thought that such an activity was for kids only was quickly disabused of that notion. The first part of the ride was indeed a bit of an adventure, due to the strong wind and the dense flurry of snow-flakes blurring our sight. Sometimes, it was even difficult to spot where the piste ended and the steep slopes down the mountain began. But in contrast to some anxious or black-humoured predictions, nobody ended up at the bottom of a ravine by accident — although a few knees were bruised and clothes got soaking wet when one or the other racer failed to notice a pothole or toppled into a snowdrift. Halfway down the mountain, however, the slope led to the forest road, where the path was wider and the air between the snow-capped fir-trees was icy, but calm. After about 45 minutes, even the slowest and most overcautious team members had made it all the way down to the gondola base station. Now we were all desperate for a cozy room and a hot drink, though!

But first, we had to huddle together in the car and return to Munich, where we had booked a table at The Big Easy , the popular New Orleans-style bar and restaurant in town. Instead of proper starters, soup, hot chocolate, Bailey’s coffee or tea were suddenly all the rage, but soon everyone felt warm and comfy enough to look forward to the delicious food: Jamabalaya, gumbo, blackened chicken breast, juicy steaks, seafood, and other specialities of Southern cuisine were waiting for us. After the first bites from the mouth-watering delicacies, we deeply regretted that the helpings were so generous. There would be no room left in our stomachs to try any of the tempting options on the dessert menu!

However, there was still time for a round of cocktails and the Secret Santa Gift Exchange, a great opportunity to see how well we know our colleagues and how creative we are when it comes to choosing Christmas presents. All in all, it was a perfect occasion to get into the holiday mood together and to say good-bye to our current intern Bence (who also took the photos) since he’ll be going back to university in Hungary soon.

Visiting one of our InterNations events in Munich always feels like playing on home turf to me. The local InterNations Community is big in numbers (we have almost ten thousand members in south-east Germany), and the members have a great community spirit, too.

For the November Get-Together, we had to limit the guest list to 500 participants. The venue we chose, the Paradiso Tanzbar, is smaller than the usual clubs and bars where our Munich events take place. Paradiso is the “in-place” of night-life in Munich at the moment. Owner Jürgen Maier has managed to create an exclusive club for the 30-45 year old crowd. Here, you will find the trendy avant-garde of Munich’s older party scene – those who don’t feel comfortable in some of the usual posh places with young whipper-snappers showing off their magnum bottles of champagne which they just bought with daddy’s credit card. The Paradiso used to be a gay strip club in the Munich’s most liberal neighbourhood, the Glockenbachviertel. Today, however, it has the look and feel of a classy 1920s nightclub with red velvet, plush, and crystal chandeliers, and a reputation for gaudy 1970s / 80s retro flair. It’s always packed on week-ends, and it’s hard to find approval from the stern-looking bouncers.

Tonight, though, it is the exclusive venue for our November InterNations event. Members from over 50 different nations are happy to enter the club, and the cozy atmosphere quickly helps them to mix and mingle. I spot many familiar faces, but also a lot of new arrivals, who are thronging around the newcomers’ desk, which is being managed by Oliver Detjen and Rachel Senior, two long-term InterNations members, tonight. They make all new guests feel immediately welcome by answering all their questions and introducing them to each other.

Whereas one of the two Patricks, the famous Munich Ambassador team from the States, is currently out of town on a business trip, Patrick Kessler is greeting every single member personally and thus helps everyone to start off the evening nicely. By 9pm, there is already a long queue at the door. At least our Albatross Members enjoy quick and easy access through the Albatross Entrance.

When around 22.30 the DJ turns up the volume, the general socializing turns into a roaring party. Old classics and a few newer chart hits lure everyone onto the dance-floor; just a few tired folks are relaxing in the red satin cushions of the VIP lounge. There is a great vibe, and our members are really getting closer to each other. The Italian consultant is dancing with the French teacher, the Irish party-queen with the Latino salsa king. The mood is definitely exuberant right now! The party goes on until 3 am in the morning and many members might have a tough time going to work on the next day. I, for one, feel that I might have needed a little more sleep since I’ll be back at the InterNations office at 9 o’clock sharp. But then, the get-together has indeed been worth it…!

(Thanks to InterNations member and professional photographer Hagen von Deylen, who braved the crowd to get all his incredible pictures from that night!)

Since our fast-growing international community went online almost exactly two years ago, on September 11 2007, both the InterNations team and its members around the world are looking forward to our second birthday party. Or, to be more precise, to our second anniversary parties.

Of course, the main event is going to take place in Munich, our founding city. Here we are currently busy rolling out the red carpet, polishing the champagne glasses and planning special treats for a glamorous Friday night with the biggest, longest and best party of all.

At least another fifteen cities all over the globe, however, have also scheduled their monthly events on the same date, from Brisbane and Shanghai over Milan, Madrid and Lisbon all the way to Ottawa and Rio. So we will be able to toast the success of our vibrant network and share the celebratory spirit with as many international party-goers as possible.

We’re eagerly awaiting next week, watching the number of confirmed attendants on our guestlists climb: 210 for Munich alone, and many more to come…