Pieces of a new life
How Yingda Yu found a new home in Freiburg, step by step
Freiburg attracts people from all over the world who not only establish themselves professionally here, but also rewrite their personal stories. One of them is Yingda Yu from China, who has been working as a semiconductor industry manager at TRUMPF Hüttinger since 2024. His journey to the city began with a job offer – and a chance encounter that showed him how seemingly separate pieces of a jigsaw can come together to form a coherent whole.
In his interview, he talks about his unusual start in Freiburg during the COVID-19 pandemic, about small gestures of kindness, and about encounters that made settling in easier for him. It becomes clear just how much it is the quiet, everyday moments that leave their mark – and how Freiburg has become a place for him that combines new experiences with familiar feelings.
Yingda Yu: It was a job offer in Freiburg, as well as a lovely chat with a driver from ‘Blablacar’, who told me about the changes in his career – changes which, in the end, all fell into place like pieces of a jigsaw. These signs showed me the way to Freiburg.
Yingda Yu: I arrived in Freiburg right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city was completely deserted, but my partner and I enjoyed this quiet, undisturbed, peaceful side to the city.
Be curious. Don’t be afraid – Freiburg doesn’t bite!
Yingda Yu: My neighbour, who repaired our washbasin even though he barely knew me. Just like a former fellow student from Shanghai who showed me around the city. And the kebab shop assistant who gave me a face mask with such kindness and pride.
What do you associate with Freiburg, and what three words spring to mind when you think of Freiburg?
Yingda Yu: free-spirited, sweet, with the scent of sunshine!
When I think of Freiburg, I think of my partner, my basketball mates, summer, snow, Feierling beer, lazing about in the sun, and much more…
Yingda Yu: Being on my own, and of course spending time with my partner. I sometimes miss my family in China, but not too much.
Yingda Yu: That’s how I felt when a squirrel leapt onto my balcony from a large lime tree and looked at me.
My favourite moment is the distinctive, fresh scent after a thunderstorm on a hot summer’s afternoon. It reminds me of my childhood in China.
Yingda Yu: I don’t know yet. But whatever happens, a part of my heart will always remain in Freiburg.
Yingda Yu
Industrial Manager at TRUMPF Hüttinger
