Cottbus, Germany

Life in Cottbus, Germany is not the beginning of the story.  No, the story for me began with a passport, some $2000 and assurances from friends that it would be easy to find a job as an English teacher in Dresden, Germany in 2007.  About a year later, I was back in the states living in Philadelphia, but my relationship with Lars, who I met in Dresden, was just beginning.  We continued our long-distance relationship and have been together since September 2008.  That was almost three years ago, but a lot has changed for us in our lives.  I was studying at the University of Pennsylvania at the time and the job outlook for him as a German lawyer in the US would require him going back to school for an American JD degree or LLM.  So, I was the one who sold all of my furniture and most of my possessions to come to Germany in order to pursue our relationship together.  Luckily, I was equipped with my German language skills and a love for traveling.  In May 2010, I subleted the rest of my apartment lease in Philly, got all the paperwork to bring my dog Charlie along, and boarded an Air-Berlin flight non-stop  from JFK Airport, New York, to Shönefeld Airport, Berlin.

Since then, I have moved a couple of times.  After not finding any work at all in Germany, I came back to the US about three months later, as required by German law since my Visa Waiver only lasted three months.  I moved back to Philly and back into my own apartment actually, and worked as a part-time research assistant the university in the Department of City and Regional Planning.  I had hoped that I could broadly apply my skills in quantitative research methods to another field.  What happened was that I became fascinated by urban issues ... even though my part-time position became no-time, after the project was done with the stage of research I was helping with.

In November 2010, I moved back to Europe, but this time to England since my then-boyfriend, Lars, was doing a short-time placement in St Albans near London.  I lived there and we cramped into a little room in a house-share.  Charlie came too, of course!!!  Let me tell you: It's not easy to bring a pet to the UK!!  It is even harder to find a job as a non-EU citizen in the UK.  My experience was pretty shocking.  The border control harassed me "quite" fiercely, as the Brits say, when I entered the country from Germany after Christmas vacation.  They wanted to know why I was unemployed and what my intention was in the UK.  Fair enough, although the reason I am unemployed in the UK is because the UK's ban on hiring foreigners made getting a job there impossible!  They probably didn't appreciate that answer.   I wanted to say, "Hey, my great-grandparents were British.  I'm like, 3/4 British-American.  If any country in the world should be American-friendly, it should be the UK!!  What do you have against me?"  Alas, I think that would have gotten me a tight-lipped frown at best; at worst: entry-denial!

After living in England for two and a half months, I came to Berlin in January 2011 to look once again for jobs.  I threw in the tool for my loftier career goals and decided to just try to work as an English Teacher, freelance, like I did in 2007-2008 when I lived in Germany before.  I put in my application at, I believe, every language school in Berlin, except at the primary schools (I don't want to work with kids again... sorry).  After two months, I had completed a training in English teaching with an online language Company called LearnShip.  I have nothing good to say about them.  I had completed the online training, studying full-time for three days, only to be told that I wasn't teacher-material.  Ouch!! So much for back-up plans!

At that point, I was flying back and forth between England and Germany in order to visit with Lars and look for jobs in Germany.  I knew that if I didn't find a job in Germany, I would have two choices in order to stay in the EU with him: marry Lars in order to have a marriage visa with all rights afforded to me, or find a job so that I can have a work-visa, with limited rights, but essential ones afforded.

Somehow during this time, I got the sneaking desire to return to the US, where border officials favored me and finding a job would be easier, despite the recession.  I missed my family terribly and wanted to live closer to them, for once.  Lars was ok with this because he also dreamed of emigrating to the US eventually, probably with me.  I found a job in Orlando, Florida USA in February 2011 as a paralegal and worked for Morgan & Morgan, P.A. for five months.

I ended up quitting my job to move back to live with Lars in Germany.  I decided that living in Florida was a dream that I could postpone in order to live with Lars and simultaneously pursue a career that suits me better (and is paid better) than being a paralegal.  An advantage to Germany is that education is very affordable, tuition being about 500 EURO a semester.  If I was going to start over, best to do it in Germany so that finding a job internationally would cease to be such an annoying effort, someday.

So here I am, living in Cottbus with my NOW husband Lars.  I am applying for the Spouse Visa and have been accepted to some university programs.  I am not working, but I am very happy.