Welcome to the third interview in my Adjusting to Expat Life series.  I’ll be running two interviews a week over the course of six weeks, writing about my own experiences adjusting to expat life in Peru, and rounding up the best expat resources on the web.

Andrew Couch left his home in the US at the age of 28, in order to move to Freiburg, Germany.  He writes about his travels around Europe and the expat life on his blog, Grounded Traveler, and one of his posts, Doubt while living abroad, helped me to decide to focus on expat life for a while.  Here, he talks about adjusting to life in Germany.

How long have you lived in Freiburg?

2 and a half years now

What made you choose to live there?

Here specifically? I found a job here. But I wanted to see if I could live in Europe for a while, so I started looking for jobs around Germany because I knew the language and landed here. The great thing is that I knew this area from previous travels and loved that I found a job.

How do you make a living?

I am a software developer.

Have you lived abroad in other countries before? Where? Was  it easier or harder to feel at home?

I have traveled a lot, but this is my first time living more than 6 months at a time.

Are you part of a close-knit expat community, or are you closer to locals?

I am a part of a fairly closeknit english speaking community. I do have some local friends that I enjoy seeing and hanging out with as well.

How much longer do you plan to stay?

No plans on leaving.

Do you think about your adopted country as home, or as somewhere you happen to live, at the moment?

This is home.

What were the greatest differences you noticed when you first arrived?

This is hard to answer as I have been here before. When I first started settling, I noticed all of the bureaucracy that you avoid as just a traveler or short-termer.

To what level did you speak the language when you arrived?

Fluent but not 100%. I had traveled and studied here before. I get most everything and can hold long conversations, but when it gets to administrative/legal letters I have to deal with, I still talk to my friends.

How did the language difference affect you?

It still does. Some days it is like living life inside a cotton ball. I understand and have normally no problem with the language, but it takes energy to get closer to 100% like I can do effortlessly in english.

As you don’t have citizenship, what are your feelings on living in a country where you have no political voice?

I really don’t notice that piece of it. If I was to switch citizenship it would be to provide more stability and more opportunities, not just to be able to vote.

What advice would you have for ‘newbie’ expats? What do you wish you had known before moving to your new home?

It isn’t travel although that experience helps. It isn’t like living at home and there will be some days where you seriously wonder why you did this. It is stressful and frustrating and truly wonderful all at the same time.

Make a decision that you are going to make it work. Deal with the frustrations based on that decision to make it work. There is a solution to everything. This has been the best decision I have made with my life to live here, although it is not without it’s frustrations. Don’t let that it is hard or strange scare you off from trying it. That said do continue to take measurements if you are truly miserable. Maybe there are changes to make things better, maybe you do need to move on. One thing I’ve learned since moving here is that making a decision and following it is a great motivator, but don’t be afraid to change your mind if you have found out the decision is wrong. Nothing is final until death.

If you can find an expat with the same native language as you that has been there a lot longer than you and ask them if you have questions. You will likely miss a set of cultural common sense or local understanding that they will help with. Locals are great for some of that, but they don’t always understand the extra hoops that expats need to jump through. A lot of this is bureaucratic, but also socially. I find it helps to be able to talk to someone who understands and can say whether things are real problems or just culture differences. If you find someone like I did with 17 years of experience, they are more integrated and know who to talk to and how. Essentially an expat mentor. This meant I didn’t have the complete isolation that would have discouraged me. A lot of people seem to move for partners, which helps in a similar way.