Well Serge and I have been living it up in our new home in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL for about a month now, and things are finally starting to settle down. As any former expat will tell you, the moving back process is insanely challenging and stressful, but as I write this on our rooftop patio just steps from the beach, I'm reminded of how completely worth it all the difficulties were to get to where we are now! We're both loving our jobs (I'm working at an adorable little cafe), our apartment, our town, our local group of friends, the weather, being able to speak our native tongue, and living in the same time zone as our family! It's amazing - when we moved from Charleston to Fort Lauderdale in 2008, it seemed like we were so far from our family back home. But after living 5,000 miles away from everyone, South Florida really doesn't seem that far from South Carolina anymore! It's so nice being able to call my friends and family on the phone whenever I want to hear their voices without having to calculate what time it is where they are, whether I'm waking anyone up, and whether they can get to a computer for a skype date. It really is all relative!
It seems a little surreal that we're back in the US for good. I'm sure one day we'll get the travel bug again and want to take a trip and see something new, but for now we're enjoying getting settled in our new home, and we look back fondly and frequently on our European adventures through photos and memories. I wanted to conclude our blog with some pictures from our final months in Germany. Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland! :-)
We never got to see the final renovations made to Wetzlar's train station, so unfortunately this is the memory we'll have of that beautiful Bahnhof ;-)
This was pretty much the extent of the snow we got this winter. I'm glad we got to experience a white Christmas and weeks of snow on the ground the year before, but I will admit I was quite thankful that we didn't have a repeat winter wonderland. Now if I could just figure out what to do with those 150 Euro snow boots I HAD TO HAVE but never once wore...
Serge and Andreas watching a Stuttgart soccer game at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and freezing their butts off. But at least Stuttgart beat Freiburg 4-1!
Serge enjoying the most elusive beer in the world, Westvleteren XII
Thanks Nate and Crista for bringing it back from Belgium!
Serge, Christian, Nico, Oli, and Peter with their Sierra Nevadas all the way from America!
On St. Patrick's Day we decided to take one more hike to Braunfels. We made the 15 km trek, ate lunch in town, then took the bus back. Here's Sergio with Wetzlar in the background.
Ich liebe Schäfchen! We found these sweet little guys roaming the hills on our way to Braunfels. My favorite is the tiny one right by the point of my elbow!
Shouldn't we be drinking green Guinness and eating shepherd's pie instead of hiking for 3 hours?!?
Whew! We made it!!
On our way up to the castle
Such a pretty little town!
It may not be green, but at least he drank a beer on St. Patty's Day!
With the castle on our last trip to Marburg
It was a beautiful day!
Taking in Marburg for the last time...
and enjoying lunch with a view at the biergarten near the castle.
Our friends Peter and Stephanie hosted a wonderful farewell dinner for us at their apartment in Giessen.
Thanks guys! We miss you!
My last time shopping at BioMarkt!
I love being able to easily read the labels and find everything on my list in one place now, but I sure do miss the cheap, locally grown produce from BioMarkt and organic meat from our butcher shop, Bechtold! It's also much easier to just throw everything in our car and drive home, but I was always left with a strong feeling of accomplishment after successfully finding my groceries, making the purchase, and carrying them up the hill and 4 flights of stairs to our apartment! Oh well, guess I'll just have to get used to this easier life! ;-)
Walking along the Lahn in Wetzlar
I miss being able to tell time by the ringing church bells. Now I actually have to look at a clock!
Cooking my last meal in our apartment - Bittersweet!
With Serdar and Veysel at Ludwig's on our anniversary. I sure do miss these guys and their amazing Turkish food!
Auf Wiedersehen Ludwig's!
This was during our last few moments in our apartment, while the movers were packing up all our stuff. I was one exhausted little Potato!
I was experiencing one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment of my life when I took this photo of Kalsmunt. We had successfully either sold or packed up everything we owned, cleaned our apartment, passed over our keys to the landlord, and were spending our final nights in Wetzlar at the Wetzlarer Hof. Ahhh relief! :-)
That little speck of blonde hair towards the bottom leftish corner is yours truly doing cartwheels near the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt. I was pretty excited about repatriation!!
And finally, here's Serge outside of Paulaner am Dom saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to Deutschland! Thanks for all our wonderful memories! We'll cherish our time there forever! :-)
