Introduction

 

 Hello!

My name is Annalisa, and I live in the beautiful city of Munich, Germany. While I was born and raised in Munich, I have Italian roots, as both my parents are Italian, making me proudly half Italian and bilingual.

  

Study and Career:

After graduating school in a nearby town, I finally had the freedom to choose to learn something that truly interested me. Since I am both techincally and artisticly inclined, I wanted to do something that incorporated both aspects. Sooner or later I found out about web development and I chose to pursue this as my study and future career. Fortunately for me, the Ludwig-Maximilians university in Munich had just the right major: media computer science with a specilization in human-computer interaction.

During my studies, I quickly learned how to code and started learning about UX, psychology and other media fields such as filmmaking, game development and web technologies. With little experience I was lucky to get a job at a company not too far from home, that develops software for cinemas, including webshops, apps, ticketing and retail order systems. This is when my career as Frontend Developer really began. I learned how to code in React and React Native and became an integral part of the frontend team.

Today I am still working on side projects and want to expand my knowledge about other programming languages and frameworks. I would also love to take an internship as UX Researcher to see another side of the industry. I enjoy creating and improving interfaces that are easy to use and make the user happy. It is the right combination between being in contact with other people and having to come up with a solution on a technical or scientific level.

Hobbies:

Since I was young, I always had something artistic to do. Whether it was music or drawing, these activities have always been a part of my life, and I still enjoy them as much as my free time allows. Music and drawing help me through tough times and help me express myself.

I began playing the piano when I started going to school. It was hard, but it is also such a versatile instrument that it was definitely worth it. Throughout my piano career I also participated in a few competitions, won some prizes and made new friends. I especially liked playing toghether with other people. Luckily for me, there were two other students more or less the same age, that felt the same way. We started playing in a quartet and it was the best time I had ever had playing the piano. When graduation arrived, the stress became to much, so I decided to leave the music school and concentrate on my studies. I never really stopped playing though.

After a gap year, I started going to university. But I really missed making music.Having already closed the chapter on piano, I decided to try something new. At that time, I liked listening to the "piano guys" on YouTube; two guys playing piano and cello together. I decided to give it a try and began playing the cello. Surprisingly it was really fun. Although in the beginning it was very difficult, since I had never played any string instument before whatsoever, I still made quite a lot of progress. It was just to much fun. When I return from Korea, I plan on resuming my cello studies and continue learning the rest of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, which I began before my trip and have managed to (mostly) master the first three movements.

Apart from that, I also like to draw from time to time, although the older I get the less time I actually have to sit down and practice drawing. Which is a total shame... I did some digital drawing as well when I was younger, but I decided that I like drawing on paper more. I especially enjoy drawing people. It is so much fun getting to study all the unique faces there are and all the different ways people look and dress themselves. Unfortunately I haven't really improved in recent years, because I just don't have the time, but maybe I will revisit it sometime later in life... let's see :)

 

Things I like:

Finally, there are also other things beside hobbies and interests that are worth mentioning. 

My absolute favorite dessert and cocktail: Tiramisu and Aperol Spritz!

Maybe it is a cliché, since I am also Italian, but these two are simply too good. Especially homemade Tiramisu is one of the best things in the world. If I ever had to choose one dessert for the rest of my life, it would definitely be Tiramisu. It is really easy to make and tastes just perfect. You can also prepare it lactose-free or decaffeinated and it still tastes amazing. The only downside would be, that you can't make it vegan. The only downside is that it's not vegan, but luckily for me, I'm not vegan, so I don't have to worry about that!

Aperol Spritz, on the other hand, is the best aperitif - not too bitter, not too sweet, insanely easy to make and also looks pretty cool. There are mostly two kind of people regarding Aperol: the ones that love it, and the ones who absolutely hate it. Fortunately I am part of the former group and don't have to miss out on such an amazing drink!