summer visitors

We've finally reached the end of our month chock full o' visitors, and boy, was it a good time. It started with my college friends Megan and Claire visiting for a week with their significant others. We rented a "van" (I use that term loosely - it was basically a glorified hatchback that was far too small for 6.5 people) and travelled to Maastricht...

...took our second trip to Amsterdam (you can see a recap of the first one here), where we ate pancakes (a must!), visited Rembrandt's House and the Rijksmuseum, tried Indonesian food, took a canal cruise, and finally toured the Anne Frank House...

...and took a day trip to Burg Eltz - our first visit to a German castle! ...

...before they headed back to the good old U.S.A. One week simply wasn't long enough.

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Next up were our pals Jas and Jennie from the U.K. We visited them in London last summer, and they came to Aachen the first weekend of this month. We partook of wine fest, endured the scorching heat, and enjoyed some good food and even better company, before they boarded the train to spend time in Bruges.

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Last but not least was my dad's visit. This was super exciting because, a. he's my dad and 2. it was his first trip to Europe. It was so much fun showing him around. 

We also took him to Maastricht...

Then, I got brave and kept the car for a couple of days and drove on the Autobahn (my first time without following Josh). Things I learned: I have the need for speed; a highway is a highway pretty much anywhere you go; people in Germany are MUCH better drivers than in America (they actually use the left lane only for passing... WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!)

Driving through wine country en route to Koblenz.

We drove to Koblenz to meet up with my dad's friend John, from our hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, as he's currently stationed in Germany as a chaplain in the military. We enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch and a walk along the river...

The next day, we went to Monschau, where we walked about the town, partook of a delicious lunch, and picked up some more of their infamous mustard.

Josh took off from work on Thursday, and we took a trip to Bastogne, Belgium. I'll do an entire post on this one since I actually took a decent camera with me and got lots of photos. For now, I'll just say that it was an incredible experience. Hubs got this great shot of the U.S. memorial...

And on dad's last day in town, we hung out in Aachen, lingered over a delicious breakfast spread, and took Miles on his first trip to a zoo. His favorites seemed to be the goats, ducks, and the ostrich!

Aachener Cafe is one of our favorites for breakfast and a great cup of coffee.

Dad and I on his last day.

We're so thankful to have friends and family that are willing to travel far and wide to join us on our adventures! We don't have any more visitors planned until the beginning of next year, so we'll be exploring on our own over the next few weeks before we return to Nashville and High Point for Thanksgiving!

five ways to combat homesickness when living abroad

It's been about 10 months since we first began our journey living in a foreign country and boy, has it been a whirlwind. (Well, technically, I guess I've only actually lived in Germany for about six of those months since I spent a few back in the U.S. throughout the end of my pregnancy and in the first couple of months after having Miles.) Almost a year in, I finally - FINALLY - feel like I've adjusted to our new home after a roller coaster of excitement, anxiety, and feeling all the feels. I tell ya - moving to a new place - whether it be a different state or a different country - is not for the faint of heart. Now that I feel like I'm on the other side of it, here are a few things that I believe have helped ease the transition...

iPhone photo from Mother's Day weekend - Miles was obviously NOT into it.

Find your people. It's so hard moving to a new place as an adult. Up until the post-college years, you've had built in systems for developing friends, but once you're in the real world, it can prove more difficult. This difficulty is magnified when you move to a place where you don't even speak the primary language. The best way to find new friends, through my experience, is to search for expat groups online. Even our city, Aachen, which isn't huge, has several English-speaking groups that get together on a monthly basis. My favorites have been the ones I found on Facebook - the folks there have been extremely helpful in answering any questions we've had about how things work over here, and it's also a great resource for buying/selling things like bikes and furniture. We enjoy meeting new people at the monthly gatherings at different restaurants and bars around town, and we've even made a few friends through the group. You're always guaranteed to have something in common as you commiserate over the woes and small joys of living abroad :)

Get outside. Last summer, when we moved here, and if I'm honest, I was probably somewhat depressed, I wanted to do nothing but mope around our apartment all day. It was intimidating to go outside and know that I might have to interact with people whom I didn't speak their language (an utterly frustrating experience) or thinking I might get lost (at the time, my phone only worked on wifi). I came up with all kinds of excuses for staying inside - it's too rainy or I'm too tired or I just didn't get the chance today. Let me tell you, sunshine and fresh air can really make all the difference in your mood. Especially now that we have Miles, if he's feeling cranky, I load him in the stroller or Ergo, and we go for a walk. It almost always makes us both feel better!

Picnicking with the boys in Aachen's Stadspark on a beautiful, spring day.

Stretch your comfort zone. Part of this is the whole finding new people thing, but there are lots of other things about living in a foreign country that take you out of your comfort zone. For me, even going into a grocery store by myself was challenging at first. Force yourself to learn at least some of the language (greetings are a good place to start... for example, when checking out at the grocery store here in Germany, it's customary to greet the cashier with "hallo" and say "danke" (thanks) and "schuss" (bye) when you've finished the transaction and bagging your items). Explore new places. Go sit and have coffee at a local cafe. Little by little, you'll find you start to feel more comfortable in your new environment.

Develop a routine. Especially not having a job over here (while I've pretty much been working and/or in school forever), I've found that it's essential to have some sort of routine. It provides me with a sense of normalcy. It's not the exact same every day, but usually looks something like this for me - wake up around 8 or so, feed and play with baby while having breakfast and coffee, get a shower/straighten up the house/pay bills/work on the few projects I still have going while Miles takes his (typically) long morning nap, eat lunch, and then we'll usually go out for a walk and run errands in the afternoon before Josh gets home, and tag-team making dinner and taking care of baby. Recently, Miles has gotten himself into an even more predictable routine - eating dinner with us, followed by a bath, and bed between 9 and 10. Having even a little bit of consistency and knowing what to expect from my day goes a long way.

Those precious, precious nap times that I use to do ALL THE THINGS. Thank you sweet Jesus.

Take time to do the things you love. There's no reason you need to give up all the comforts of home. Continue to do the things you love while you're living abroad. For me, those include writing (like here on this blog), travel (not only is this fun and exciting, but it also gives me something to look forward to - sort of landmarks in my time abroad), taking photos (even though most of mine these days are iPhone), and cooking (which I've just recently gotten back in the swing of). Find other people who love to do the same things - it's a great way to make new friends!

If you're struggling to adjust to a new place or in the preparation stages of moving and feeling a bit anxious, just know that some days will be better than others, but eventually, hopefully someday soon, you'll feel the fog lift. I hope that you'll, like me, learn to appreciate the adventure and seize this new chapter! 

enough complaining... things I love about living in europe

On any given day, I have a number of complaints about our new home. The rain. The lack of air conditioning. The abrasive personalities of many of the German people. The difficulty in communicating. The complaints were at an especially all-time high last summer while I was pregnant and frustrated and homesick, but finally... FINALLY... I've embraced this European adventure with my little family. Here are just a few of the simple things I love about living in Germany:

Miles and me heading out to run some errands.

Not having to drive anywhere. We only have one car - which Josh takes to work every day, but that's no problem since we live right in the city! I can easily reach the grocery store and a myriad of restaurants and shopping in less than 10 minutes on foot. While this means lots more trips to the store since we don't want to lug home six bags of groceries, it's nice to get out of the house and enjoy a daily stroll.

Outdoor seating. Any day when it's even slightly warm (as in, above 50 fahrenheit) and not raining, restaurants and cafes have their outdoor tables set up and the town square is swarming with people sitting outside enjoying a meal or coffee. It's prime people-watching territory.

A busy Saturday in Aachen Markt.

Ease of travel. This is one of the very best parts of living in Europe. Flights are cheap, train travel is easy, and we're even close enough to drive to lots of places. We've made several day trips to places like Maastricht and Monschau, took the train to London last summer to visit our friends Jas and Jennie, and we're driving to Amsterdam (only two hours!) at the end of this month for a long weekend!

Enjoying a nutella crepe at the fair.

The pastries. The gelato. The sweets. These people love their treats. Just on my walk into town, I pass no fewer than three bakeries and two eiscafes (this is the German word for the ice cream shops). Bad for the waistline. Good for the soul.

Italian food. Say what?! I know it sounds strange, but the Italian food here in Aachen is amazing. Presumably due to our close(ish) proximity to Italy. I suppose it's a bit like finding great authentic Mexican food in the southeastern U.S. The pizzas are amazing (I ate them on a weekly basis while I was pregnant - this mama CRAVED marinara like nobody's business), and you can find delicious fresh made pastas all for extremely reasonable prices. It's definitely no Olive Garden :)

Enjoying it with the comfort of knowing that we'll be returning to North Carolina, home-sweet-home. Since we'll be returning to the U.S. in less than a year and a half, I'm trying to soak up every bit of this little temporary lifestyle as possible. While I'm sure I'll be sad to leave this place, it makes it easier to be away from family, friends, and the comforts of home to know that it's all there waiting for us when we head back stateside next year.