My Favorite Thing About Living In Europe


Access. That's my favorite thing.

As much as I value my heritage being American, after living here in northern Germany nearly 8 years, I greatly value being a resident of the European Union just as much. In fact, I am proud that my son has indefinite dual citizenship in both the United States and Germany.

I love easy access to other places, I always like having a way out. I tend to get bored easily by the same things, day in and day out, I definitely have a bit of wanderlust in my personality. There is no cure for it. I'm a true escape artist and thrive on travel and new experiences, and it's also quite necessary for me in my profession. There's not much happening in my industry in Hannover, Germany - that's for damn sure! ha ha!

For me to stay in one country all of my life, in one culture, one language... Well it would mean death creativity and emotionally. I couldn't handle it. I know some people who never leave Germany, and they don't plan to live elsewhere - they barely travel never mind relocate.

Though the overall magic of moving to Europe died several years ago, as newness always wears off after you relocate, what I still find magical about European life is that I can be in a totally new culture in 45 minutes or less by plane and 2 hours by car. I can drive to Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, etc etc etc. And I do! I can fly quickly to all of these places too, for under 150 Euros, sometimes even less, round trip. It's crazy. For what I used to pay for a flight from Boston to New York City, I pay for a flight from Hannover to Istanbul. I even flew to North Africa in 2010 and it was so easy to get there and so affordable.

I remember when I finished writing my first book 6 years ago, I went to Istanbul to celebrate. ISTANBUL. Who does that when you live in New York or LA or Boston? Just go to Istanbul for a long weekend to celebrate something you achieved career-wise because 1) You can and 2) The entire trip was under 500 Euros with hotel and airfare in the best neighborhood in the city.

The access to so much, in such little time, for unbelievably affordable rates, is truly a blessing and I cherish this ability to travel so deeply that this alone will keep me in Europe. I want my son to grow up here and experience this because it's quite honestly, AMAZING. I usually don't talk about this much to my American friends because I can come across as totally arrogant and uppity, but my god, I want to tell them how I don't know how they do it living land-locked in North America. Well, I actually do. You travel to other states and hope it feels and looks different. You hope the Target in LA has better stuff than the Target in Boston. You hope the beaches are nicer (they are). You hope the food in Chicago is a little different from New Orleans (it is). So, to us (me included), that was the extent of our adventures in North America. That's why I spent way too much time in Quebec with my French Canadian friends. It's why I loved going to Mexico. It was a chance to break free from the sameness.

I love my country, and honestly the job opportunities there for me are FAR BETTER than they are over here. It's no ones fault that the United States happens to be so isolated from the rest of the world, so they've created their own universe over there -- like Australia.... But still. I can't live in the states after living here because this kind of access to so much in such a short time is all kinds of exciting.

Living in Europe sorta ruined me. It's like dating that one hot guy who is great in bed and treats you like a queen, brings you beautiful flowers and opens every door. He always smells good and looks even better. He's tall, has gorgeous eyes and nothing negative to say about you because you alone are his princess. He tells everyone how wonderful you are, and when you overhear how he talks about you to others, it makes you feel like the luckiest woman alive.

That guy is Europe. And when you don't have that guy anymore, you are sorta ruined.

I hope this doesn't sound snotty, I don't mean it to be, but I just really love to travel, I adore new cultures and languages, and I love architecture and design so for me, Europe is where it's at.

Next week, I go to Barcelona for a fun vacation with a friend. I have never been to Spain, despite studying Spanish for several years in school in my late teens when I took private lessons from a tutor in Mexico. I love the language but Mexicans are much different from Spaniards, so I wonder how it feels to be around them vs. the Mexicans and South Americans that I am used to living around in the USA. I've heard Spaniards are more proud and not as friendly, but that's the case in all of Europe compared to the states - I'm used to it and don't mind it one bit (anymore). I'm also interested in the food - I know the tapas I eat in Germany at Spanish restaurants (very good!) but I'm sure there is nothing like eating tapas in Spain. It's like when I was in Italy in April, the food there was unreal and I thought I was eating great Italian food in Germany cooked by Italians. Nope.

When I come back, I'll tell you all about Barcelona and my exciting time there. Watch for me visiting the haus maus blog again after the 12th of July...

Until then, how do you feel about travel? Are you also in love with it? Or do you not care to travel often? If you are an expat living in a foreign country, what do you love about your new country that your former country didn't really offer?

xo
Holly

(Photography: Vidal Orga)

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