It all started simple enough: girl meets boy, boy meets girl, they chat through Whatsapp, boy visits girl, more Whatsapp, girl visits boy, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, boy visits girl, and there’s more Whatsapp. Thorsten and I met last April at work and hit it off right away. He lives in Germany while I am still in Chicago. It has been a long distant relationship from the beginning but as time went on, we knew that we had something special.

In the beginning it was hard, really hard. We both had our insecurities and baggage we have carried from our previous failed relationships but we always managed to push through and work together and become stronger as a result.

Also when you know that person’s the one, you just know. No one else can tell you that.

So when I went to visit him in October/November 2013, I had originally planned to convince him to come to the States. The last time I was in Germany was when I was in my rebellious 20s. It was the age where I thought I knew better and I thought I had a complete understanding of Germans.

I was wrong.

People have compared Germany to the ‘mid-west of Europe.’ Honestly, I think they’re right. Part of this has to do with the fact that what is now the Mid-west US is comprised of descendants of Germans (as well as other Europeans from that general area). Even two or three generations later, there are still aspects of German culture that have remained through the years that you don’t notice until you are faced with full blooded Germans. There have been many times during my stay there that I honestly couldn’t tell the difference of Germany and Indiana. Of course there are cultural differences between the two but there are also enough similarities that help bridge the gap. Of course this helps when both parties are willing to see the similarities and build on that.

So then I decided that I could come to Germany….it took five weeks to convince me.

So I had to start: I needed a job. I happened to be in Germany to not only visit T but to go through three weeks of training at my current job’s HQ in Ravensburg, Germany. For those of you not familiar with Ravensburg, it’s here:

It’s a beautiful city and the people there possess the same level of friendliness that we Midwesterners pride ourselves in having. Again, I felt like I was in Indiana.

Anyway, I went to the Director of Microbiology (my department) and frankly told him of my plan: I met a boy, I want to come here and I would also like to stay with my company.

He was on board with the idea and while I came back to Chicago, he kept an eye out for something.

Fortunately he and another colleague together found a position for me. Everybody won!

They organized a video conference with me to tell me the news. So now that I have accepted the position, I now have 84 days until my start date (June 1st) to get my affairs settled here in the states, pack up my belongings (and the dog) and fly to the land of beer and pretzels where I will start my new job and my new life with my gorgeous boyfriend.