Moving to another country is terrifying. My mom did it. Her friends did it. A lot of them are doing it for the same reason I am: love. While that is a force powerful enough to motivate people jump ship from their native home land to the test the water of other cultures…..there is a lot of unknown, especially in the realm of homesickness.

It’s unavoidable.

Fortunately, I already have a support group already gathering for my arrival. Thank God!

Her name is Carmen. I call her Tia Meni. She and my mom go way back (Peru back) and have always maintained a strong friendship. When I first went to Germany, I stayed with her and her husband Peter. She is a woman full of so much love and support you can’t help but feel good. When I last saw her in November, she had told me that if I came to Germany that I could count on her. She said that if I ever felt homesick then I should go up and stay with her and she would take care of me.

It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that I have family there who understand what I will be going through.

She was not the only one to voice her support. Her sister Lola also said the same thing and I know that her two daughters: Saskia and Mareike are also jumping for joy that I am coming.

But wait there’s more!

I have made quite a few friends where I will be working and since I had made my intentions clear of coming to Germany, they have been eagerly waiting (as I was) for news of a position for me. Annabelle has already been making plans!

But I am not done yet!

There are also the pack of Thorsten’s friends that I had met during Musewiese (the fair I attended when I first got there in October) and of course there is Thorsten’s family.

For the record, Thorsten will also be moving in order to be closer to me. This means that we are both very excited to start this new life and still a little sad to move from family and friends. This also means that we will be leaning on each other more for support.

When dealing with long distant relationships, it is understandable that both parties would want the significant other to come to their home and live there and everything is perfect. Unfortunately, there are times where this is not the case. A good sign is that both parties decide that they will find a way to make it work because they want to be together and make it work. Both Thorsten and I decided that while I would come to Germany, we would live in a place where we could both get jobs. This will allow us a good life as well as the income to travel as much as we like to. This includes flying back to Indiana.

We are both very excited this stage of our lives and this level of support helps out weigh any fears I have of homesickness.