Stories from my life and travels as an American immigrant in Germany!
Frankfurt am Main is the largest financial center in continental Europe and the fifth-largest city in Germany. It’s also the only city in Germany with a classic “city skyline” of skyscrapers. Some people refer to it as “Mainhatten”, because of how it (supposedly) resembles New York City. Does it? Well, I jokingly shared a photo of a cluster of sky…Continue Reading
My husband has wanted us to take a vacation to the North Sea coast ever since we moved to Germany four years ago. The closest we’ve been is Hamburg, which isn’t actually close at all. Like camping in my home-state of Michigan, however, it’s hard to find accommodations on the coast unless you book far in advance. So, he’d put…Continue Reading
There’s a lot to love about living in Germany. Lately, though—and mostly because of the pandemic!—I feel like I’ve been forgetting just how lucky I am to live here. As my husband can attest, I’ve been whining even more than usual about aspects of life here that I find annoying. In my defense…I can’t help it, OK? The last time I…Continue Reading
German comedy has a bad reputation. Even Germans, self-deprecating people that they are, will often say that German comedy just isn’t very good. Is that true, though? First, I have to be honest and add a little disclaimer that I haven’t seen many German comedies. That may be because the first few I watched were awful, which made me reluctant…Continue Reading
A key part of learning German (or any language) is immersion. That’s tricky, of course, if you don’t live in a German-speaking country. This post is a companion of sorts to my last post on learning German. In that post, I broke down how I learned German in about three years. Unfortunately, it was already getting too long to make…Continue Reading
Do you want to learn German? Or, worse…do you have to learn German? I learned German in about three years. Last November, I took the TELC Deutsch C1 Hochschule exam and passed. Officially speaking (which is, incidentally, the best way to speak in Germany) I am a “proficient” or “advanced” user of the German language. If the idea of learning Mark…Continue Reading
Biden won. Trump has been defeated. We love to see it, folks. I’m so relieved. At the same time, though, I don’t think America is completely out of the woods just yet. Trump has stacked the courts in his favor. He has sycophants at his side who may yet help him cheat the American people out of their president-elect. Republicans…Continue Reading
Berlin; a city that is (at least, in certain areas) post-apocalyptic in appearance even when we aren’t in the midst of a plague. Despite the pandemic, Jan and I spent a long weekend there in mid-August. The numbers weren’t great then, but they were certainly better than they are now. So, you’d be forgiven if you looked at the title and thought,…Continue Reading
The Harz mountains are one of our favorite places to hike. We go a few times per year, partially (OK, mostly) because it’s less than an hour away from where we live. In total, I think I’ve been on about ten hikes in the Harz, including three times up the highest peak, The Brocken. Funny thing about Der Brocken; I…Continue Reading
Lüneburg, Germany is best known for its fields of heath, which bloom from early August to mid-September. Heath, which is called Heide in German, is a big tourism draw for the city. Not only can visitors enjoy numerous hiking trails, they can also buy heath-infused products like liquor and soap. Earlier this month, my husband and I hiked two trails…Continue Reading