Moving into Another Country

This year for me has been full of changes. I graduated school and moved out of my family home into another country. I rented my first own flat and moved in with my boyfriend. All this has been pretty challenging, as I am the kind of person who can travel to the same place over and over again, because I know I already love it.

One day before the adventure was about to begin, I was standing in front of the first challenge. How do I get all my stuff into two bags? What do I even take with me and what do I leave home? I kind of forgot that I couldn't take my cosy canopy bed, my favorite books, and all my lovely things with me. After packing the winter jackets the bags were half full already, but I somehow managed it to take the most important things with me. The next day was an emotional rollercoaster. All the weeks before I was looking forward to starting something new, but when it came to the point I had to say goodbye to my parents, it punched me more in the heart than I expected.

Growing up in a small town in Germany, I have been to London before, but as my boyfriend and I arrived, it seemed bigger and busier than ever before. Even though it's only a one and a half hour flight away from home, everything is new. Most importantly the language. I came to England having the goal to learn English as it was my first language, but the biggest step I had to take first was being brave enough to talk to a native speaker, to someone who hears every mistake I make. We had booked a hostel for the first five nights, but 10 minutes after we arrived we left already. I was going to be in a room with three males, but whilst we wanted to get our pyjamas out, one of the guys kicked us quite impolitely out of the room, telling us the other one is always getting really aggressive if the lights are still on when he wants to sleep. We didn't felt like we were in good hands, so we changed accommodations and luckily found something cheap just across the street.

I've always been in love with Brighton, the small streets with its garlands, beautiful shops I could spend hours in, the cosiest cafes ever, and the sea. So we decided to move into the colourful town. We lived in various hotels for a month, which had its pros and its cons. As the hotels were all in different places, we got to know many different corners from Hove to Kemptown. We met some amazing, most helpful and kind people through Airbnb's. But as we found a flat, it was the best thing to finally unpack the bags. We are having a small studio flat right in the heart of Brighton, sea view on the right and the city centre on the left. It was now getting easier to feel settled, but I still missed my family and friends every minute of the day.

It was now time to look after a job. Living in another country, you can't just go out into the world, applying for a job. We first had to make an appointment at the job centre, where we had to get a national insurance number which gives us permission to work. Surprisingly, that was pretty easy. We both found a full time job. After being here for three months, it's finally starting to feel like a home. But it's still so much harder than I thought. We met some new people we could go out with, but it's kind of a challenge to find new friends, as everybody already has a group of friends he belongs to. In my imagination, we would have had a flat, a bunch of friends, and a job after only a week. But that's not how it works and I now am okay with that. It took us more time to find a flat than we thought, but we are now living in one that we love. With change comes effort, but I am ready to go for it. My plans, for now, are to register for a fitness studio and trying to meet some new people over there. Through change I made so many new experiences, learned a lot and am much more open for new things to come.