This weekend we celebrated my 3rd anniversary in Germany. A lot has changed since that first day I stepped off the plane. I’m understanding and speaking German now and we’ll see at my attempts at French. A new career path is on the horizon, away from righteous ideas I once believed had to define me.. perhaps now I’m just believing in me.

After the first 3 months in Munich, when my tourist visa expired, I think the silent shock set in. I lived alone in a student matchbox, while Alex lived/worked in Regensburg. Having this idea to “expect the unexpected” didn’t really help too much. Not having that constant inward reassurance was a draining sensation. I was unaware just how much I was craving for the familiar only because I was dead set on not turning back to find it. Sometimes I just had to stuff that ‘I’m in limbo’ kind of feeling in my pockets somewhere and get through the day. I still do from time to time.

I realize that now that three years has past, I’m no longer representing what is happening in my hometown, college town, or the town where I worked and played. I’ve integrated a lot of things from Germany in my life: fizzy water, no more fluffy, warm, dryer sheet smelling towels, and trains. Yes, I can stay informed. I’ll still reminisce of Florida and make comparisons. But ultimate the “back home” I’ll be referring to is the one in my heart and mind.

Each expat family or expat live/s in their own island experience. It is a place that mixes our hard-to-let-go tendencies developed in the motherland, the reality going on and what we perceive is happening in the host country. No matter how many people you may find in this expat life with similar taste to you, they are still not part of your island. Accepting this isn’t easy, but if you aren’t absolutely hung up on finding friends who mirror your taste from A-Z, expat island life is quite rewarding.

So to celebrate my first days in a Germany, we semi-acted like tourist yesterday. We climbed Alter Peter and took pictures of the city center. We ignored street signs, although there were no irate German drivers in the streets to annoy. And we even collected souvenirs from the Altstadtringfest.

Still Alex and I aren’t big carni people. But we did find ourselves fascinated with the fact that parts of the Mittlerring (ring of streets surrounding the city) were closed off deue to the festival.

More pictures can be found here in my gallery.

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