Reflections on Munich
I arrived in Munich having spent the previous 6 months in Regensburg (a smaller town about 1.5 hours north of the city), so while the transition of cultures wasn’t quite as abrupt as it might have been coming from Australia, Munich certainly left an immediate and lasting first impression as a large, ambitious and vibrant city. I’d heard a lot about it before, so I had a few preconceived ideas of what it might be like: it would be full of Germans (which was true), rigorous, socially enforced trash sorting (also true), and afternoons spent laying in the sun in the English Gardens (gardens: true, sun: partly). There were of course things I couldn’t have known: what it is like to figure out how to order and pay at a restaurant, how important it is to put your name on the letter box at the first possible opportunity, and what those first rays of springtime sun would feel like (right before you get another surprise week of snow, and learn why it is called “Fool’s Spring”).
A German friend of mine put it quite nicely: Munich, in many ways, feels like a blank canvas - it doesn’t impose a certain ideal on you, nor inundate you with stimuli, but can provide whatever you ask of it, letting you choose exactly how you want to engage. For me, that has looked like taking advantage of as many learning opportunities as I can so far – attending conferences for sustainability, design and circularity, attending open lectures at the Technical University of Munich or talking to some incredible people pushing for positive change and impact in their respective fields. Well, that, and lazing by the Isar, visiting cafes and patronizing the bars or attending cultural events in the evening – if there is one thing Munich does well, it is work-life balance.
Work at Idealworks is, of course, exciting and dynamic. I was lucky enough to be set free on a broad strategic design project focusing on developing product offerings or internal processes that would help to further elevate our customers’ journeys – opening opportunities to engage with many departments across the business and tackle some fascinating challenges. The team, true to form, has been nothing but supportive and welcoming, both in and out of the office. Catch-ups by the river on the weekend, 5-a-side football matches in the evenings or the promise of table tennis after work (once the weather plays nice) have all been staples of the experience so far and in no small way have made the move to the city so much more manageable.
Life in Munich inherently means life in Europe – which to me means making the most of the incredible travel opportunities while I have the chance. I have been fortunate enough to visit Paris, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Marseille, Helsinki, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, alongside several obscure smaller German towns and hiking trails courtesy of friends with families in the region. Those experiences were all incredible in their own right, but they also provided some unique opportunities to engage and learn about the European design landscape – Helsinki’s Aalto University and its amazing design programs, Copenhagen’s Design Museum and commitment to Nordic aesthetics, Berlin’s expressive grass-roots arts and culture scene (including communal workshop spaces and repair initiatives) and Switzerland’s startup ecosystem that demonstrated the impact of design-led solutions.
It hopefully goes without saying that I could only recommend finding and taking opportunities to spend time abroad – the experience so far has been invaluable (and certainly not without its challenges) in so many inarticulable ways and is one that I am incredibly fortunate and grateful to be having.
Kilian Frunz
BMW Group Intern 2024
