Moving to Germany

It is official: We are moving out from Italy to Germany by the end of May! (therefore, I am not and I am not going to be so punctual in blogging..) The countdown has began! Next life destination: Lippstadt. It is a lovable mid-sized town in the north of Germany (Westphalia). It is also nicknamed “Venice of Westphalia", due to the many Lippe arms that criss-cross though the town centre...I was there last weekend to see some houses, and I found it is such a cute town! It seems very calm (if you compare it to Thessaloniki or Bologna) but a very family friendly town, full of parks, which is more than perfect for us! 

I had been through a culture shock once before, when I moved from Greece to Italy 6 years ago, and I still remember the side effects of moving. Exactly as described in this hilarious article on cracked.com

5. Critisize Everything and Everyone at First. The first moments are full of excitement, yet can be rather disorientating, since a moving comes with a fair amount of stress. Everything different can resemble strange, and even not right!I remember that it struck me as so odd the fact that if I was hungry after 3pm there are no restaurant open, nor delivery available until as late as 6pm (at least not in Bologna)! So or I should starve, or eat a sandwich (panino) which is not my cup of tea..In Greece restaurants stay open all day until late at night, and the delivery is available almost 24h (at least in big cities) ...but really what is the deal?!Just a bit of organization and now I am just used to it! 

4. Miss negligible stuff. The first months are the toughest when everything is new. I was feeling home sick and things I was taking for granted at home became so seriously important. I was never a great appassionate for TV (I was hardly watching TV in Greece), but when I stepped out in Italy, I found myself whimpering about the quality of the italian TV and the fact that all films are dubbed in italian! But really..was I really caring about? 

3. Become super diffensive about your country. Living "abroad" can come with all sorts of unexpected challenges. People get curious about foreigners, and sometimes I had to deal with strong assumptions (also negative) about where I come from, by people who have never been there. Every time it happened to hear a comment about my country, I was feeling I must defend it at all costs, even though I actually wouldnt have done it, if the same discussion was held in my homeland! To be frank, after a while I realized that it is better to take what people say with a grain of salt, and ease off! 

2. Every Other Expat You Meet Feels Like a Soulmate. It’s super-easy to make friends with others in a similar situation! Whenever I meet up with other foreigners I get quickly close in a way that I probably wouldn’t back home.. just because we have to tackle with the same problems and difficulties, appears that the connection will be immediate! However, for my sake, along those years, I have met a lot of Italians, that have a special place in my heart!

1. Whenever you go back home you feel like a stranger. After a year, I was finding rather difficult to adjust to my country's dynamics, everytime I was going back to visit my homeland. It is really insane isn't it?