By Annie Goodykoontz
When Tempe Prep alumna Aimee Cheng went to visit Germany with her mom, she fell in love with the country. In fact, she loved Germany so much, she decided to study there!
After graduating in 2018, she decided to study abroad in May of her freshman year at University of Pennsylvania. She spent her summer studying at Technische Universitaet Muenchen to research business ethics. “I spent two months there last summer and loved it so much that I knew I had to come back,” she said. “I had walked by a study-abroad program’s office every day to work while I was there in 2019 called ‘Junior Year in Munich.’ I decided to look into it and applied to go for Spring 2020 (German Summer Semester).”
Aimee goes on to talk about the semesters she spent in Germany. “German university semesters are winter and summer instead of fall and spring. The winter semester is from October to February and the summer semester is from April to July. I came in January 2020 to do an internship here before my study abroad in April.”
When asked what she loves most about Germany, Aimee says that she loves the atmosphere the most. “Different parts of Germany are pretty different culturally,” she said. Aimee said she likes Munich in particular.
“What I love about Munich is that it is peaceful like a town but has everything that a big city would have,” she said. “It has lots of parks which are always packed on a warm sunny day.”
But it wasn’t just Munich that Aimee liked so much. “Munich is also very close to the Alps and some lakes,” she said. “In the summer, I would go with friends down to the lakes or hike in the Alps. In the winter, it was also super easy to take a bus into the Alps and ski.”
Aimee also talked about what made her want to stay in Germany. “I really love how green the city is and how relaxed and peaceful it is here,” she said. “Everyone at my university is really intense, so Munich has been a very good change of pace. I have also made some really good friends here and wanted to stay to spend more time with them, since I do not know the next time I will be able to come back due to the travel ban.”
Aimee also has used her time in Germany to visit other places. “When the borders opened up again over the summer, I was able to go to Spain, Italy, and Portugal,” she said. “I hope that when this lockdown ends, I can go skiing with my friends in Austria or Switzerland.”
There are some things she misses about Arizona. “I really miss street tacos and coffee shops with WiFi,” Aimee said. “Mexican food in Munich is not very authentic and over half of the cafes here do not have WiFi for studying.”
Despite this, Aimee has loved her time in Germany, and TPA prepared her well. “It was also really cool using all of the German phrases I used in Herr Gray’s class!”