Welcome

I haven't kept a blog since I was about 20 years old. That blog, still in the world of the wide web only because my boyfriends and friends find it funny to read, is somewhat of an embarrassment, mostly because it sounds a lot more like it was written by a 16 year old Paris Hilton wannabe than an ambitious young woman hoping to become a successful journalist. Alas, I hope this attempt at documenting my travel, work and personal experiences as an expat in Germany makes me want to cringe a little less when I look back on it in 10 years or so.

In short, I am a 27 year old football journalist who is undoubtedly as obsessed with sport as I am with living and travelling in Europe. After two years in London, which seem more of a blur of partying, being broke and a hell of a lot of cliched rain, I decided through both necessity and desire that Germany would be my next home.

Necessity: My visa in the UK ran out and getting a new one has proven to be complicated at best. I hadn't foreseen these problems, and with my boy only a one hour flight away in Frankfurt, and my own little dream coming true of being a journalist in football's birthing place, it seemed pretty a cosy situation to stay in London for the next year at least. Credit card repayments and liver recovery could wait. But apparently British immigration had other ideas.

Desire: The boy being in Frankfurt was certainly making it tempting to come across the pond already. Besides this, whenever I had travelled to Germany in my life it wowed me in every way; the people, the culture, the food and the sights, not to mention the cheapness compared to London. While L-town was more a place I felt like a uni student, in Deutschland I imagined feeling more like an adult, and perhaps the time has come to grow up (slightly anyway). Also, one of my main goals when coming to Europe was to learn a new language, and it wasn't happening in the UK. I knew in order to fulfil this I would need to force the motivation somehow - like living in a country where I had no choice.

Working in the journalism industry, I have been lucky enough to retain my old job from the UK, which has made the transition much easier. Had I not been given this opportunity, I would certainly have to be a) looking furiously for a source of income and b) giving up on the idea of bring a journalist for the time being at least, not speaking the native language and all. So with the basic need of a job taken care of, it's now up to me to grow my contacts across Europe, and get to as many football matches as I possibly can in the process.

Having lived in three cities now where I did not grow up and haven't have a set group of friends to fall back on, I'm more prepared for the challenge of meeting people making friends in Frankfurt. In London, it took around six months to really feel like I was settled in terms of my friendship group. In that six months I often worried I would never feel as comfortable as I did back home, but the fears certainly disappeared when one or two chance meetings changed my experience of the city completely. Now I feel much more at ease with the fact that is will take a while to have a set of Frankfurt friends in my life, and it's a process I hope to enjoy.

And luckily I have Skype for my friends and family across the globe when I'm feeling a little lonely (how did people used travel without it? Or have long distance relationships. A very gen Y question I know, but I am genuinely curious), and a boyfriend who has been patient, kind and a great translator when I've received forms to sign or am tearing my hair out over visa issues. My lack of German will no doubt be a hindrance in the coming weeks, but an expat meet-up this week, and making travel plans, as well as my new flatmates returning from a week away are giving me reasons to feel excited for being more social in the coming days.

I also made ANZAC biscuits today after a visit to the Australia shop yesterday. I've been eating and trying a lot of German food, and some Russian food as the boy is Russian-German, but sometimes it is nice to have something little that reminds you of home :)

Till next time x