new life
in Germany
far far away
From US to Europe. From a big world into the small one. With long dreary winters and good wine,
small parking spaces and friendly people. Casey Coté knows that everything has its pros and cons.
Why Germany?
My husband is an officer with the US Air Force and
we got orders to move to Germany in the summer of
2011. So we did.
How long have you been living in your new home
and what do you do there?
I’ve been living here for more than 2 years! Back in the
States, I worked as a Nutritionist (I have my Bachelor’s
degree in Nutrition & Wellness), but here in Germany
I am currently living the dream of being a stay at home
wife, writer, and a travel blogger!
What was it like with language, did you know
German or was English enough?
Before moving here, I wanted so badly to learn German. So, we started using the Rosetta Stone programs
to give us a good foundation for basic German. After
moving here, my husband and I realized that most of
the country speaks English, so our learning German
fell to the wayside. Thankfully, we haven’t run into many
language problems while living here, but I still wish
I would have stuck to learning a little longer. Even
though we know more German than most expats here,
life would be a bit easier if we’d taken a more intensive course and kept up with it.
What was the biggest shock after moving there?
How cheap the wine is! You can order an excellent
glass of wine for less than you can order a bottle of
water. Seriously. Another shocker? The German winters.
They’re long, dreary, and snow covered. No wonder
many Germans have sun lamps in their homes! Winters
here are utterly depressing.
What differences between US and EU are the
most significant ones?
So many things! The most significant off the top of my
head? Small parking spaces and limited parking lots.
Parking is hard to come by around here. In addition,
many stores close at 7pm and aren’t open on Sundays. Coming from America where you can go to
Walmart 24 hours a day (not that you’d want to),
it was a hard adjustment. I always seem to run out of
something in my pantry when the stores are all closed.
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