Three years ago I was living in Germany and eager to share my experiences with the world. I was going on seven months as an expat and I jumped at the chance to join an expat interview series by a popular blogger. Last month I discovered that the interview was taken down (thanks to my broken link checker – such a useful tool). I don’t want my work to be wasted, especially when it’s so hard to work with chronic pain, so I’ve decided to republish it here.
The interview is Q&A style and I’ve added relevant updates in italics, since three-year-ago-me wrote this. It’s amazing how much can change in three years.
Expat Living in Schweinfurt, Germany.
Where are you from?
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Where are you living now? How long have you been there? Do you plan on staying?
I moved to Schweinfurt, Germany in September 2015. I will be here until at least October 2016, but possibly longer. We did leave that October after spending 13 months in Germany. If I wasn’t so Sick™ we probably would have stayed longer or moved back later.
Did you move there alone or with family, friends, someone special, pet?
I moved here with my husband, Mr. Meena, and our pet parakeet, Koopa.
What brought you to your new home? Tell us the real story!
After one year of working for a German company my husband was offered a chance to train in Germany for 13 months. We realized that we had nothing to hold us back from moving abroad – no mortgage, children, or any other commitments at the time, so we agreed to go almost immediately. How funny that we now have a mortgage, a child, and a lot of commitments. It would be much harder to go now. I’m so glad we had this perspective at the time.
It took six months of planning, a ‘look and see’ trip to meet our new home, and an endless amount of paperwork in order to bring our bird along before we actually made it to Schweinfurt.
What do you do work wise? Is finding work in your city easy? What are the visa requirements like?
I have degrees in chemistry and toxicology and I was working as a lab analyst at home, but I lost my job due to budget cuts shortly before we got the offer to move to Germany. I am unable to work in Schweinfurt due to the relatively short length of our stay here and because I am not fluent in German. It was very easy to obtain visas and a work permit for my husband since we moved here for his job; in fact, the company took care of all the paperwork for us.
How do you “blend in” and be accepted by locals?
I’ve learned not to smile at strangers too much, to be quieter, and to refrain from asking questions that are overly personal when I’ve just met someone. These things help me to blend into the German culture and not stand out as a stereotypical American. The local newspaper actually wrote a piece on my experience, “The American advises: Do not smile too much!”
How did you make friends? Are you friends with locals? Are you friends with other expats?
It has been quite difficult for me to make friends in Germany. Germans deeply value friendship and tend to establish solid friendships over time. As a result I’ve gravitated more towards the local expat groups that I can connect with more quickly and easily. However, I have met a few German women through a local language exchange group and my husband has established friendships with some of his coworkers. Shortly after this interview I became close friends with a German woman and to date she is still one of the best friends I’ve ever had; I miss her so much!
What has been the most shocking thing you learned about the local culture?
The national inability to stand in line is the most shocking thing I deal with on a daily basis – and Germans can be rather aggressive about getting where they want to go. I’ve been knocked over while waiting in line, had to fight to get off trains amid the tide of incoming passengers, pushed by an elderly woman in a grocery store, and once I even had an intense standoff with a child who was trying to get in between me and a ticket machine while I was using it.
My husband has learned to not leave any room between himself and the counter of the cafeteria in his workplace, because leaving even six inches open is an invitation for someone to try to step in front of you. We’ve learned that personal space in not necessarily guaranteed in Germany, and if we happen to forget there is usually a German literally right behind us to help us remember. I have to admit the physical intensity of Germany, and most of Europe, did cause me a great deal of stress and anxiety and I never really figured out how to cope with it on a daily basis.
Did you have to learn a language? What learning methods do you recommend?
The only German words we knew when we moved were Achterbahn (roller coaster) and nein (no). We’ve learned the German alphabet, numbers, and enough phrases that we can usually get by in public. We were given 100 tutoring lessons by my husband’s company and I made it through about a dozen before my chronic illness made it too difficult for me to continue. My husband had another dozen or so lessons before the tutor started traveling a lot and things fell apart.
Fortunately my husband is able to communicate with most of his coworkers in English. While many Germans speak English quite well, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll always be able to find one that does (especially in smaller towns). For someone who wants to learn German I would recommend finding a language exchange program and partnering with someone who will take the time to correct your pronunciation and grammar.
When I realized I was too sick and too short on time (when we had around six months left as expats) to become fluent in German, I refocused my efforts and decided to instead help Germans learn English. I started an English “walk and talk” group that would meet for walks to improve their conversational English. While I regret not being able to learn more German during my time abroad, I know now that the reason it was so hard for me to study is because I was living with undiagnosed and untreated lupus at the time.
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A park that is quickly becoming my favorite place to walk in Schweinfurt.
What do you love the most about your new home?
I love being able to walk or take public transportation almost anywhere that I need to go. It’s very low stress to walk over to a coffee shop or farmers market instead of having to drive everywhere. We don’t have a vehicle here and it’s rare that we need one. My husband can walk to his job and he no longer has to deal with irritating traffic jams or delays. We don’t fight about who is driving (or who is driving badly) and we can spend time together when we use public transportation. Giving up driving, aside from the occasional car rental, of course, has been incredibly relaxing and beneficial for us.
Oh, and the food. The food is amazing.
What do you hate the most about your new home?
I struggle with the lack of convenience. It’s really hard for me that our town shuts down at 8pm each night and that nearly everything is closed on Sunday – we’ve made many desperate trips to the gas station and the local Subway for food. We struggle to figure out how to keep our tiny fridge stocked when the grocery stores close often (and sometimes for several days at a time) on holidays. We try to keep up with closings but they do occasionally catch us unaware as the dates aren’t always posted. We’ve observed that it’s easier for those with children in school to track the upcoming holidays.
Cool places in Schweinfurt.
Favorite coffee shop?
I love to visit the Lavazza Caffé Espresso Bar for a Bailey’s latte.
Favorite book shop?
I usually read all my books electronically, but the Stadtbücherei (the local library) is a beautiful place to sit and read. The lower level is underground and has skylights that form part of the street above it, while the upper levels have interesting architectural details and windows with views of Schweinfurt.
Favorite store?
I’m on a bit of a minimalism kick since whatever I purchase here will eventually have to be sold, donated, or shipped back to the US, so I don’t do a lot of non-food shopping. But I do love to visit Ateelier to stock up on delicious coffee and chocolates. Living in a hotel for a year forced us to live minimally and it turned out that we absolutely loved it. We got rid of so much stuff after we moved back home and still make an effort to live with the least amount of stuff possible, even with a baby. I’m so thankful that being expats inspired our minimalism!
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Favorite evening spot?
The s’Türmle Schweinfurt is very cool – it’s a small wine bar that’s built into one of the towers on the old city wall. You can sit inside the tower or outside along the wall and enjoy wine, beer, and small appetizers. It’s completely charming.
Favorite restaurant?
My favorite restaurant, especially for Franconian cuisine in Schweinfurt, is the Brauhaus am Markt. They have a dozen different types of schnitzel and their roast duck is amazing. We later discovered a small Indian restaurant that made the best spicy pizza I’ve ever had in my life, but they closed shortly before we left. I still dream about that pizza (there’s a picture of it in this post).
Favorite thing to do?
The first thing I do when friends or family arrives is take them on a tour to see the Schweinfurt pigs. There are somewhere around 100 colorful fiberglass pigs located throughout the city that are personalized to their respective stores and locations. While they aren’t always easy to find (unless you know where to look), they are great fun.
Resources for expats in Schweinfurt.
This section is entirely new; it wasn’t included in the original interview.
– Panamericanos Schweinfurt: “We are a community in Schweinfurt that like to share the best of our cultures and we like learning from each other. Comparte tu cultura.” This was my favorite group while we living in Schweinfurt. We made a lot of friends, went to a lot of events, and my walk and talk English group was run through them; they also have a Facebook Group.
– Schweinfurt Expats Facebook group: “This is a group for expatriates living and working in Schweinfurt and the surrounding areas. The goal is for this group to function as a meeting point, sounding board, question and answer forum, venue for arranging meet-ups and Stammtische, etc.”
– CHICKhaus Facebook Group: a Franconian Expat Community.
Do you have any expat experiences to share?
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy:
A Day in the Life: Expat in Small Town Germany.
Differences Between Germany and the USA.
50 Things I Miss the Most about Germany.
