Learn German in Munich: Student Reviews

Becca (19 yrs):
8 week German Gap Year Course

I decided to take a Gap year as I wasn’t quite ready to start University, and intense studying, so soon after A-levels! Having already been to Munich a couple times and because I have a few friends there, I was motivated to do a language course and further my German knowledge from its current A-level standard.  My goal was a mixture of, not wanting all the work I had done at A-level to go to waste, and also to improve my German speaking ability so I could talk to my German friends with greater ease.

I’ve attended previous language courses so it was no surprise to me when the lessons were entirely ‘auf Deutsch’! It definitely speeds up the learning process and makes you focus more. It’s a little tricky at first but after a couple days it’s completely normal.

The staff were fantastic, very relaxed, and felt more like friends than students (especially when a regular school “excursion” was to a bar every Thursday evening). The school is right in the centre of Munich, a couple minutes walk away from the beautiful Marienplatz. I chose to stay in the Student House rather than an apartment on my own, through doing so I have definitely made some friends for life. Being able to travel to school together and explore Munich with someone is great and makes you feel a lot more confident about being in a unfamiliar city. Munich itself is my favourite city I’ve visited so far; with a vast range of culture, cuisine and things to do, there really is no excuse to sit at home and do nothing. I visited various museums, the Olympic Stadium, BMW World and Dachau, just to name a few. Another of my favourite aspects of Munich, especially as I live in a very rural area of England, is the fantastic public transport system. From trains to trams, there’s always an easy way to head into the city, or to get home (whatever time of the night!).

I’ve been to Munich in summer before and it’s wonderful to waste sunny days in the Englische Garten, lying along the banks of the Eisbach. It is, however, equally lovely in winter; watching (I’ll leave the actual surfing to the professionals) brave individuals surf the famous Eisbach wave by the bridge near the Haus der Kunst.

The area I like the most, just as somewhere to explore without any real goal, is Universität. There is an U-bahn stop right in the centre of the street, so it’s easily accessible and always energetic. I would highly recommend this area if you have a free afternoon and want to discover a particularly beautiful part of Munich. As the name suggests, it is where the Ludwig-Maximillian-Universität München is located, so it is very student orientated. There are, what feels like, endless University bookstores all along the street, fabulous University buildings, with stunning architecture and of course plenty of Imbisse (that’s takeaways to us) with the best Döner Sandwich in the whole of Munich (as I’m told by many regulars). If you don’t know what a Döner is, then that’s good enough reason in itself for you to go to Munich.

Without being too cliché, my only real complaint was that I had to leave. I look forward to going back in the near future and really couldn’t suggest a friendlier, more beautiful city to spend time in, with the bonus of furthering your German knowledge!

Lizzie Morton
12 weeks in Munich!

Can I just say that I would absolutely recommend others to take a CESA language course and I would love to go back to Munich again, sometime.  I was lucky enough to be out there for 12 weeks, and the course certainly helped me build my German skills, helped my self-confidence and inspired me to learn more.  Not only was I able to benefit academically but I also got to see a beautiful part of Germany and meet some great people too.

Before I arrived I thought that I would have the opportunity on this course to meet people from a variety of countries and improve my German in classes with them.  I thought that I’d have the chance to speak lots of German and get involved with lots of group activities and outings in and around Munich and I hoped that I would become more confident speaking and writing German.

I knew I wanted to learn German in Germany, I choose Munich because it’s such a beautiful looking city and the CESA staff suggested it would be a good choice as I really wanted to stay in residential accommodation, not with German hosts.  I met such a variety of people and really enjoyed events such as the bus tour round Munich and a day trip to Salzburg.  I found that having to use my German all the time and being constantly challenged by the teachers, kept my focus on the language learning throughout each week of the course.

The German lessons were taken by two different teachers each week, and I found all of the teachers helpful and informative.  There weren’t many people in our class (never more than 8, and generally 7 at most) which I really enjoyed as I felt it was easy to ask questions and that I benefited from good teacher attention.  Sure there were hard days, German grammar is not always a pleasant experience, but that was all part of the learning process and along with the challenge and graft, was plenty of laughter and lighter moments.

The German language school in Munich was a great place to study and I was made to feel welcome by the people there.  I always found the staff approachable and felt able to ask the teachers questions when I needed to.  I thought it’s location in Munich was terrific, with easy access to the heart of the city, but in a pleasant less frantic area, surrounded by shops and good places to meet.

Of course there were the bad days, when I felt a bit homesick and at the beginning it took me a couple of days to settle in.  This was the first time I’d been on a trip abroad alone so I found having to be by myself sometimes quite hard but as a result I learnt to be more independent.  I really enjoyed getting to know people from other countries, who I wouldn’t normally meet and it was great to find that I could communicate with them in German in daily conversation.  I made a couple of good friends in my class, one girl from Poland and a boy from Sweden and we spent quite a lot of time together – we even tried to translate jokes we all knew into German (with mixed results)!  Although I felt very shy at the beginning I eventually ended up with friends from all over the place – Europe, China, Thailand and South America!  They were very friendly and we sometimes cooked together in the residence, which was great!

Munich…. I adored it!  I think it’s a very beautiful and intensely cultural city with masses to offer and see.  I enjoyed simply walking around and looking at all the historical buildings, particularly places such as Frauenkirche and the breath taking roof top views!  I didn’t eat out much as I wanted to keep the costs down, but when I did it was fabulous.  I’m not a party person so tended to spend most of my evenings chatting to the other students in the residence however I love to shop, and Munich is great for shopping!  I just really liked the whole atmosphere of the city and wandering around it during the day, through the market place at Marienplatz.  There was always something going on and plenty of street theatre on offer.

The help I received from CESA before I left the UK was great – everything was made easy and you answered all of my questions, gave me all the information I needed and it was very easy to get in touch and ask about something when needed.  I couldn’t fault you.  It truly a fully rounded experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks!!           :  )

Tracey Anne Lynch

I hoped that I would get a balanced education which would include speaking, grammar, reading and writing. I also hoped that the teacher would challenge me and push me beyond my current linguistic abilities.

I had two teachers who took turns teaching which I found very helpful. It gave a variety of and different but solid perspectives on the language. I found that they were both creative in their methods of teaching and balanced the time well between speaking, grammar, reading and writing.

I felt like I learnt a lot in a short amount of time and have a good amount of material I can continue to study.

The lessons worked well. I thought 5 hours with a break in the middle was a good amount of time for intensive learning. The student teacher interaction was very good. I was happy with my lessons and didn’t feel that they needed improvement.

I liked the German language school in Munich very much. It is in a very comfortable setting. The teachers and staff were very approachable and the atmosphere was welcoming. I didn’t mind the location of the school in Munich. It took a few minutes to walk there as I didn’t live in the school residence but it is nice that it is not located right in the middle of the city.

Since I didn’t have any worst parts of the course I would have to say all of it was good!

I found the Media Tech room very helpful with all of its resources and the Media Tech teacher was more than helpful. I felt that the amount of lessons that I had for the duration of 5 weeks was good.

I like Munich as a city very much. The people I met out of class were very helpful. I don’t find Munich an especially cheap city. It is more expensive than other cities in Germany that I have visited but it has a good feeling about it and the transportation system is very easy to use. There is a lot of culture and many things are easily accessible.

I think CESA has a very good language system and the approach of the teachers and staff. I attended an earlier German course this year with CESA and had the same experience.

Hannah Bishopp
12 weeks
German course in Munich

I expected to expand my command of German, to experience a different culture and an opportunity to meet people from other countries. I also expected the opportunity to visit Munich and Bavaria and to see a large number of places of interest.

My German improved significantly. The best part of the language course was the opportunity to really practice spoken German. I thoroughly enjoyed living in Munich and Bavaria. I met a number of native Bavarians to whom I was able to practice my German on, as well as with many students from other countries.

The German language lessons in Munich generally worked very well for me. The structure of the lessons given by the large majority of teachers was good and interesting. There was good interaction between teachers and students.  The German language school was friendly and welcoming. The staff and teachers were caring and interested in students individually. Being centrally located, just back from the main station in Munich, its location was excellent for eating out, shopping, visiting the sights of Munich and being close to transport links enable me to get outside of Munich into surrounding Bavaria with great ease.

I found that the other German language students, both in my own class and within the school were friendly and I have made a number of good friends with whom I expect to maintain contact. The balance between lessons, homework and free time was very reasonable and really worked well for me.

Munich was a brilliant place to spend 3 months. There was plenty of inexpensive restaurants close to the language school, but in the centre of Munich understandably restaurants became more expensive. I also found the transport fairly inexpensive. The local people were very friendly, I found a number of opportunities to speak to them and practice my German. I generally felt very safe when moving around Munich, including in the evenings.

Munich and Bavaria offer a huge number of things to do. There was an excellent night life, a good range of cinemas, shops and some magnificent parks. It also provides a fantastic opportunity to watch European Champions League Football! I would particularly recommend a visit to the Biergarten in the Englischer Garten. Outside Munich, but within easy travelling distance, I would urge everyone to go to Stamberger and to take the opportunity to see and walk around the magnificent lake.

Overall my accommodation was satisfactory, it was very convenient to the school and for the proximity to the centre of Munich. My room was spacious, comfortable and clean.

I have nothing but the highest praise for CESA. I found CESA unfailingly patient in answering all my questions. CESA was always very friendly and able to give extremely useful and informative advice on the courses I was considering taking.  The briefing pack I was sent was comprehensive. I would unhesitatingly use CESA again and recommend them to others.

I would definitely go again, my most memorable moments were my fellow students and going to watch Bayern Munich play football!”