After 2 years of being abroad I am back in Germany in Münster. I was quite nervous to come back. How would it be after 2 years? How am I now?
In addition it wasn’t easy to leave Barcelona. In the last weeks, especially when quit my job in the CallCenter, I realized that I had a life there. I lived there for more than 8 month.I made very lovely friends in Barcelona and I lived the last 2,5 month with lovely people together who became like a family for me. And I met someone who I like a lot... Well, it wasn't easy at all to leave.
Well, for my friends in Barcelona it’s quite clear that I’ll come back and will do some projects with them. Why not? Barcelona is a great place to try out things. I could come back and share the things I’ve learnt on my travels.
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My impressions after 2 years of being abroad
I’m back in Münster since a week now and I’m living together with my best friend Insa, her boyfriend and his roommate. They picked me up from the airport in Cologne. It feels like I have never left them.
Same procedure: cake, coffee, jazz and rain
While I’m writing this post I’m sitting in my favorite café Roestbar in the area called Kreuzviertel in Münster and eat a berry cake. I smell fresh brewed coffee. They play relaxing jazz music in the background. The light is very soft and calming inside the café. Through the windows I can see it’s almost dark outside.
Everything here is like always. How calming it is for me! I’m enjoying my cake and the familiar atmosphere and smell.
Right now it is raining. I love it! Finally rain! My friends are calling me crazy.
In Barcelona it almost never rained during my stay. In Mexico I haven’t seen rain either. I guess the last time I had proper rain was in Canada in Vancouver more than a year ago when I finished my Yoga teacher training… Sounds probably great for many people but I really missed the fresh smell of rain, the silence when it rains and the feeling of little rain drops in my face and hair.
Well, me and my hair...
Due to the rain I finally got my curls back! My hair structure caused my mum a headache when I was little. She brushed it for hours to bring it in proper position just to have after 5 minutes the same result like before: a mixture of curls, half-curls and straight streaks. I like my hair like it is.
It had to suffer quite a lot in the last 2 years… When I started my journey my luggage was very heavy due to all the hair products I took with me from my hair dresser. I feared I couldn’t buy those on my journey...
Well, I couldn’t and after a while I didn’t care anymore. More than once I bleached it to blonde, put into the ocean, let it burn in the hot sun and finally I colored it back to my natural hair color brown. Yesterday I went to my hair dresser Shora in Münster and she did a great job. My hair was in better condition than I thought. Thanks to weekly coconut oil treatments!
Among giants and lack of concentration
You know what is funny: It’s weird to be surrounded by people who are much taller than me and I cannot stop listening to every conversation held in German…
I can barely concentrate when I’m walking with a friend through the town. It’s difficult not to listen to the conversations around me.
For the last 2 years I was mostly taller or had the same size like the people around me. As well it was special to hear people talking in German.
At the moment beside me in the café is a couple who is talking about someone who would have a baby soon and on a table close by are sitting two students are talking about a class they had in the university.
Everything is still the same but I changed
Yes, everything is still the same! So great! But I changed. I can see it right now. I feel different when I’m at familiar places in familiar situations.
I feel much freer, more independent and more me.
Before I left Germany I was very frustrated and closed myself. Before it was very important for me what others say and think about me. I tried to fit in the system and chased the latest fashion trend and bought very expensive cosmetics. I stored a lot of those things at my grandmother’s house before I left Germany. A couple of days ago I visited my grandmother and went through my stuff. I took many things with me and gave it to friends and put it on eBay and other platforms to sell it. It felt strange to look at my old stuff… It was like having a look into another life.
Don’t get me wrong: There is nothing wrong with those things and a bit of luxury is fine. But those things belong to another chapter in my life.
I became more and more me
It doesn’t mean that I don’t care anymore about my look. I just developed my own style. That is one of the things what I mean by feeling freer:
I’m doing my things.
In those 2 years of absence I became more and more the person who I really am. That’s why I named my website Travel to Come Closer.
How can we find out about ourselves and our talents if we never see other places and cultures? This is freedom for me. I’m so happy that I have lovely friends and family members who always support me.
Saying “Hello” to my former colleagues
A couple of days ago I visited my former company and colleagues. I worked there for 11 years and grow up there. I spent more time with them as with my family or my close friends.
I was so happy to see them and see that everything is still the same. I asked them if I could give there some Yoga classes during my stay and they agreed! It’s interesting to be in another roll now. A very different roll… I was an IT-consultant for banks and worked very close together with the CEOs. That means if they had trouble I was in trouble too… ;-)
Acutally it was a paradise to work for in comparison to my CallCenter job in Barcelona. I am thankful for this experience. I did alright when I left the safe nest and learnt how to fly.
Now I am living the life I want
The students beside me are talking now about someone who would be a famous ballet dancer but would be very modest. The baby talk couple is paying their bill and changed the topic to their plans for the upcoming weekend. I notice that the people in Münster are quite friendly. Once again it just proves for me that we attract what we give out. Maybe there is a grumpy person sitting in the corner but I don't see that one...
Yes, I really appreciate to be here and see that everything is still the same and I observe myself how I feel and act now in familiar situations.
Thanks for reading my story and being part of my journey! Lots of love and big hugs.
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