Here is the empty room, awaiting my belongings and decorations. My plan to order bedding and towels online in advance was successful.
While my floor shares a common bathroom, I do have a sink in my room.
Here is a glimpse into the “working side” of our community kitchen.
The other half of the kitchen has the table and the “Birthday Wall.” My photo and birthday will be added to the wall shortly.
Whenever new students move into the dorm, they are asked to make an “About Me” sheet to hang in the lobby.
It was exciting to return to the historic center, the heart of which is the Marienplatz. And the heart of the Marienplatz is the Neues Rathaus, or New Town Hall, which is famous for its elaborate Glockenspiel, with figures that dance at the top of every hour. “Noch mal” means “again.”
You can see the two domes of the Frauenkirche, Munich’s Cathedral, peaking above the West end of the Marienplatz.
The Altes Rathaus, or Old Town Hall, stands at the East end of the Marienplatz.
This is the former Führerbau, and currently Munich’s University of Music and Theater, and is one of the buildings which I am researching for my Fulbright Grant. You can faintly see a rainbow in the background.
Staying up for the Superbowl was worth it for the friendship, but I was quite tired by the end, which was about an hour and half after this picture was taken.

Monday came and I headed to my “dorm,” Roncalli-Kolleg, for the first time. I met the house manager and the groundskeeper who helped me check in. I had the Airbnb until Wednesday, so I took my time moving between places and enjoying the privacy, convenience, and spaciousness of the apartment for as long as I could. 

While the privacy was nice, it has also been exciting to meet my floormates. My floor of 18 people is considered one “household.” We can be maskless on our floor and around each other, but if we are moving between floors or in a common space shared by the whole building, like the study spaces or laundry rooms, we need to wear one. When I arrived on Monday, one of my floormates kindly offered to give me a tour of the complex, and they have all been very nice about including me in activities: playing badminton, enjoying “coffee breaks,” chatting in the kitchen. Wednesday night we played “Secret Hitler.” It is one of my favorite games to play with my American friends so it was a nice surprise to play it here, too. We ended the night by playing poker, a game which I have so rarely played that I needed to review the rules. Nevertheless, I definitely had beginner’s luck and emerged victorious. Everyone made plenty of jokes about the newcomer from America who they thought was hustling them. I also spent some time during the week running errands to help me get settled into my room.

Friday was a busy, productive, and happy day! I started by officially registering my address at a government building. This is the first step in the process to get my residency permit. Next I enjoyed some nice weather by finally returning to the historic center of the city and walking around a bit to enjoy the empty sites. I stopped by the Königsplatz, or King’s Square, to see the Propylaea, a city gate designed by renowned German neoclassicist artist and architect Leo von Klenze. This Greek Revival gem is one of my favorite structures in the city and is featured as this post’s title image.

In the evening, two of my floormates invited me to cook dinner with them, and we ended the night by singing karaoke. Saturday was pretty casual. A bunch of us played volleyball during the day and watched Star Wars: Episode I at night. 

Sunday was also a nice day. I streamed German Mass in the morning, ran a few errands, played Badminton, and to top it all off, I ended a very late night by watching the Super Bowl with some floormates! I taught them how to play paper football, and they couldn’t believe it when I told them that I played American football! 

I have to thank my floormates for welcoming me into their community. Whenever I introduced myself, I led with a warning that my German isn’t that good but that I really want to improve it. They have all been fantastic about not coddling me with English, prompting me when I need help, and encouraging me along the way. Some have even said not to be discouraged if I can’t understand my floormates who speak the Bavarian dialect and that sometimes they, as native German speakers, can’t understand the dialect.

This site is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author, Stephanie Kubus, and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.