learning experience

Expat-Repat : After 6 years in Germany, Qualities I Want To Take Home

Expat-Repat : After 6 years in Germany, Qualities I Want To Take Home

After 6 years as an expat living in Germany - I wanted to list down some qualities that I love about German life that I hope to take home with us (and not forget once we’ve re-settled into American life).

The Pros & Cons of a Road Trip Through Europe with a Baby

The Pros & Cons of a Road Trip Through Europe with a Baby

With our combined parental leave we decided to do a 23 day road trip through Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia & Austria.

Yes, a 23 day road trip with a 3 month old.

You have no idea how many times people told us “you are so BRAVE for traveling with an infant!”, and I am here to tell you… this was the BEST time to travel with a baby!

Obviously traveling with a baby will never be as easy as traveling before having one, but that should never stop you from continuing to travel and experiencing the world!

Here are some pros & cons to road tripping through Europe with a baby!

San Sebastian, Spain: Beautiful Beaches & Learning to Skateboard

San Sebastian, Spain: Beautiful Beaches & Learning to Skateboard

In each new city we travel to, we attempt to 'do what the locals do'. Which meant eating pintxos in San Sebastian, but also attempting a new skill... skateboarding.  Lets just say I will not quit my day job. 

Cairo | Egypt: The Pyramids

Cairo | Egypt: The Pyramids

The Great Pyramids of Giza... THE PYRAMIDS!!! I wish I could go back in time and talk to my 3rd grade self, learning about these unbelievable structures... and say "just wait Michelle... one day you will be standing in front of them, you will TOUCH them, and you will ride camels around them!" HA! who would have thought? 

And here we are. 

To say we were excited was an understatement. 

Living in Germany - Our 1st Year in Review

Living in Germany - Our 1st Year in Review

As of February 16th 2016, we have hit our 1 year German-iversary! And with this big milestone, I am hoping to write a few blog posts reviewing some of our favorite moments. (favorite travel destinations, favorite restaurants, etc).

But for today, I'm going to start with some of our learning experiences.

Summertime in Germany

Summertime in Germany

The weather has been unbelievably hot here in Germany this summer. (getting up to the high 90's). Now when we were back in the US I'd think "Ugh.. its so hot as i walk from my air conditioned house, to my air conditioned car, to drive to the air conditioned movie theater/mall/restaurant/etc". Wellllll... boy was I in for a surprise by moving here! Air conditioning?? That's what Germany calls a nice breeze. And your lucky if you get that

2 months living in Germany - first impressions continued

2 months living in Germany - first impressions continued

So it has officially been two months of us living in Germany. Quite a few things have happened in those two months! We have bought a new car (a speedy little VW Golf), and I've learned how to drive a manual (ehh... i'm still learning), found an apartment in Nuremberg, been to IKEA about 4 times (each at least 6 hour trips), put together countless amounts of IKEA furniture, received all of our belongings from the boat shipment, and officially moved into our apartment (separate blog post to follow about that experience!).

And you'd figure within those two months of "settling in", things would start to feel a bit more normal as Americans living in Germany, but there are still funny things that surprise us every day. So I wanted to do a follow up of "My first impressions of our first week in Germany", with some more interesting oddities that we've come across.

Apartment Hunting in Germany

Apartment Hunting in Germany

Finding an apartment in Germany of course, was not as simple as we expected. This past year we spent countless hours watching "International House Hunters" in hopes to prepare us for this experience. We promised ourselves we would not be "that" couple... you know the one who has a huge house in Texas and wants an apartment in the middle of Paris, and is appalled that their budget can only afford a studio apartment? We went into this apartment search with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect, but of course there were some interesting learnings.