My daily “take a break” reminder from yesterday. How perfect!

Today is my six month anniversary of moving to Germany. I know. I can’t believe it either. Although, at the same time, it’s not all that surprising. The days and weeks go fast, I’ve done so much, and I kind of expected the time to fly by. Sometimes I’m afraid that life does waste too fast.

People ask me almost daily how I’m doing, if things are different, if I miss the US, and my favorite: Do you like it here?

My typical answers are: good, yes, so different, yes of course, and it’s now my daily life (yes, I realize this doesn’t answer the question).

I feel bad that I haven’t really sat down and thought about my answers to these questions, because I get that they can sound superficial or ambivalent. That’s not my intention; I think some people might expect a more dramatic response about how hard it’s been, how different it is, or how homesick I am.

And yes, it has been hard, it is very different, and I do get homesick.

But at the same time, I am doing well, I have a daily routine, weekly ups and downs, and I’m adjusting, just like if I were living in Santa Monica, or Baltimore, or Charleston.

I think about “home” throughout each day (and I consider home all of the cities above, each with its own personality and each full of people I love). Every new experience I have, I think about my friends and family and wish they could share in the absurdity, the excitement, the irony, the hilarity.

Do I like it here? It’s now my life. There are certainly things I love and things I don’t like. But is that any different anywhere else?

One thing I do know is that I’ve grown so much in the past 6 months and can’t wait to see how much more I’ll grow in the next 6 months.

I also like to think about 6 months from now because it will mean I survived winter and it will finally be festival season again.