Expat Life in Germany

I moved to Germany in August 2001. We initially thought it would be a 2-3 year thing. We’d live here for a while, get great work experience when the economy in the US was starting to get shaky and return home to take on bigger and better things. Two years quickly has turned into 9 and we still don’t know when we’ll be heading back to the States. But I can say that a piece of us will always be in America.

My husband, Stefan, is German and was born just a few miles from the farmhouse we owned near Frankfurt am Main (he and our daughter were born in the same hospital, actually). But he also lived in Japan for a while and spent the majority of his youth in New York. We met in college at the University of Miami and fell in love. When he was offered a job here it was a no-brainer for me. I knew that if I didn’t go with him, I would probably never see him again. So despite it being one of the hardest decisions of my life, we made the move across the ocean.

rudesheim family

Life in Germany is not quite like the US. Certain areas are nicer and the people are friendlier. Unfortunately, Frankfurt isn’t one of those areas. And the weather is just horrible during the winter. But it still has some good qualities as well and living in Europe has been a wonderful experience.

Now we’re in the process of raising our daughter to be bilingual and hope that she will also get a chance to live abroad at some point. Since she has dual citizenship, it’s a whole lot easier for her to move around than for others.

Thinking about moving to Germany? Have a look at my So You Want to Move to Germany series. You can learn things like:

 

Have questions about life in Germany or expat life? Leave me a comment or email me at tiffany AT noordinaryhomestead DOT com

More expats in Germany who blog

Websites with local information for expats

http://www.baroquebabies.com/