Tasha Dhanraj salutes bratwurst

I’m going to Munich tomorrow. I have never been to Munich. In fact, I’ve only been to Germany once and I spent a grand total of two days there, but that doesn’t stop me from knowing that Germany is my spirit land. Obviously I don’t approve of Germany’s – how should I say? – ‘rich history’, however, I’m a big believer that forgiveness and education can overcome any mistakes of our parents.

With modern day Germany, there is so much to approve and applaud. Most importantly bratwurst. I don’t know what the Germans do to those rolled up bits of sausage meat, but my gosh it is magic.

The other reason I love Germany is because of the language, which is a good thing considering I’m going to be staying with a German family for the four days I’ll be in Munich. A problem with this is that I haven’t spoken German for almost two years. I can remember the basics, like ‘Ich mochte ein bratwurst’ and ‘Ich liebe mein bratwurst’ and ‘Habens sie ketchup fur mein bratwurst?’, so I think I’ll be OK.

“I don’t know what the Germans do to those rolled up bits of sausage meat, but by gosh it is magic”

I will be staying with a boy I met when I was 14 when he came to visit my English school three years ago. It was a whirlwind romance that lasted four days before he went back to Germany. We even held hands. We stayed in contact with emails once every few months or so, then when I mentioned thoughts about living in Germany for a few months during my gap year he insisted I came to visit him to see what I thought about Munich.

I booked a plane ticket, sent him an email telling him, and then he decided to tell me that he would still be at college, so I have the choice of either sitting at his house with his parents or going to a German school every day. Apparently, German schools start very early in the morning. I might stay at his house and try to catch up on all the work I missed while plagued with glandular fever.

The whole thing is quite scary, because I’m not just going to Munich for fun – I’m going with a view to potentially spending six months of my life there. If I hate it, then it could mean ditching my main plan for my gap year. Then again, maybe the whole trip is futile as I know that I’ll be sold on any place that provides bratwurst all year round.