Hello my fellow bloggers and blog-lovers. This week marks two years of living in Germany. While I haven’t posted much on here since I’ve been here, I have been keeping myself busy. After my summer of backpacking and researching literature from each country I visited, I moved to Germany to start a master’s program in Philosophy & Economics. I was expecting to work as a barista or walk dogs on the side for extra income to support myself financially, but a former colleague referred me to a position in my dream job. The year I spent in a sleepy Bavarian town was filled with käsespätzel, alcohol-free beer, cycling everywhere, new friends, political philosophy, and lots of bouldering.

But knowing me, I can never stay settled in one place for more than a year or so. I have been reflecting on why I move so much, which I might write more about in a later post, but I truly think it’s because each step is bringing me closer towards achieving my goals. Some people fear change, I embrace it. Of course I know I’ll settle in one place eventually because traveling so much makes you realize how much value having a community and routine can add to your life. But right now I’m young and know that this is the path that’s meant for me. The world is my oyster, and I have always been hungry to explore, learn, and grow with every new experience. Every challenge is an opportunity, and every day is a chance to discover something new about myself and the world around me.

I’ve been working as an international business intelligence analyst for almost two years now. The job started off remotely, but then I moved to the city where our office is located because I fell in love with the city and the opportunities of living in a bigger city. I also transferred my master’s program here and took German classes so I could study Philosophy in German. If you thought reading Nietzsche, Kant, or Hegel is hard in English, try it in German. Soon I’ll be a polyglot since I now speak German, Italian, Spanish, and my mother tongue of English.

So, thanks for being here, I hope you’re doing wonderful and remembering to take care of yourself. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past two years it’s that a sense of humor is one of the most important attributes to carry with you throughout the journey of life.

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes moments worth mentioning of my two years in Germany

• One day I woke up for my morning run and crossed paths with someone coming home from the brewery. I jokingly asked him if he wanted to join me on my run and he ended up running 3 miles with me, the glass half full of beer and all!
• My boyfriend and I were sat on either side of a (small) bench breaking up, and this old German lady came and sat down right between us. Truly comedic gold.
• Two more visits to the emergency room, so that make four in total, all of them being in foreign countries.
• Drinking a few liters of beer at Oktoberfest in Munich with important political figures whom I cannot name for work
• When my best friend rejected someone and they answered, ‘it’s okay, i’m already in love with 2 other people. Actually 3:’ Like not even 1 other but 3!! We were laughing for a while.
• My boss telling my mom at dinner my contribution to our team’s end of the year meeting was ”My best moment was Oktoberfest, my worst moment was the day after Oktoberfest.” To be fair, I didn’t have the best German at the time so I had to keep it short.
• Running through the streets of Venice with my best friend in our Venetian ball gowns and masks
• Representing Germany on a delegation trip to the US
• Celebrating my birthday with my sister in Paris at a beautiful rooftop bar where I was with my best friend on our first trip to Paris 5 years earlier on our first work trip for the company we started ourselves
• Facetiming my mom on Mother’s Day in Granada, the same city where I was 5 years earlier facetiming her on Mother’s Day (again) for my graduation ceremony for my bachelor’s degree
• My mom walking with American flags in Germany to celebrate our independence day and everyone having no idea why we would do such a thing
• Eating Syrian food on the floor of my friends house and only being able to communicate to each other in the 20 German words I knew at the time
• Listening to Charli xcx’s new album drop on my sister’s birthday with her and her friends in Mallorca on the way to our two wine tastings
• Running through the streets of Venice after being lost for an hour on a water taxi trying to make it to a 2 hour food walking tour with a phone on 5% battery (Venice really has seen me at my worst)
• Not getting a hotel in Ibiza because we were going to party the whole time anyways (we saved €300/night)
• Swimming in the Baltic Sea in Stockholm in September and eating cardamom buns every chance I get

What are your highs/lows from the past year? Let me know, I’d love to hear.

Love and light,

<3E