Good new days
On July 12th, 2019, almost one month after graduating, I arrived in Cologne airport for a 12 month exchange in Germany working for DHL. If anyone had asked me just a few months earlier if I had any intentions of going to Germany I’d say they were crazy. I had just spent 4 years studying in Seattle, a city I love and grew a community in. Throughout my senior year I would often stop and think “wow, these are the good old days”.
Why would I choose to leave such a comfortable situation? Well, I had to. With my F-1 student visa about to expire and with no luck finding an employer willing to sponsor a H1-B (work visa) or at least take me for a 1 year OPT (work authorization for students after graduation), I found in Germany the chance I was looking for.
Going to Germany meant starting a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend who would be attending Medical School in Pennsylvania and spending another year far away from my family in Brazil. At times I thought I made the worst possible decision, choosing to be distant from the people I love the most. With time, the feelings of self-doubt and anxiety diminished and I was able to enjoy my time there. In the the end of the day, if I was in the same situation 100 times I would make the same decision in every single one of them. Here are some experiences that contributed to that:
1. Quality of Life
During my college experience in the US, I don’t think I ever went to the doctor. Every time I got sick I would just wait and hope for the symptoms to disappear. I had a health insurance plan through my university, but to be honest I was just scared of using it and end up with a massive bill to pay. Thankfully I did not have anything more severe than a flu throughout that time, but in Germany things got trickier. A few months in I had tonsillitis and after spending a few days suffering to eat and speak, I ended up giving in and going to the hospital. It was a straightforward experience, entirely paid for the insurance, no questions asked. It is possible that if I was to have an experience like that in the US it could have been just as easy, but just having to question that is a problem in my opinion. From healthcare, to vacation days, to feeling safe walking around the city no matter that time it is, Germany offers a lot in terms of quality of life in ways any developed nation should aim to follow.
2. Increasing self awareness
In Seattle, a lot of times I would be labeled as the “Brazilian guy” since there are not a lot of Brazilian students at UW. In DHL, however, there are a lot of Brazilians undergoing the same exchange program I took part on. All of a sudden I started being labeled as “American” since I had spent the past few years in the US. This led to some interesting reflection of who I am and how I view myself. I am happy to say that I am more in touch with Brazilian culture now, having lived 5 years abroad, than I was back in 2015.
3. Good old days 2.0 and beyond
As I graduated college and left the US I had to say goodbye to a lot of people without knowing when I would see them next. A somewhat similar thing happened when I left Brazil for the first time in 2015 for the US as I left a well established community. When I got in Germany I had very little expectations around making good friends. Part of me was focusing on the negatives (as in what I had to give up to be there), and the other part was perhaps scared of getting too involved since my stay there had an expiration date. Thankfully I had a change of heart and the people I met in Bonn became my family there. Being a roadtrip to Munich, a Champions League game, or just Taco/Lasagna/Pizza Saturday night, the memories I made there will be with me forever. As my experience was getting to its end, I got myself thinking “wow, these are the good old days” again. This time around, though, I am more optimistic. Maybe the “good old days” don’t need to be limited to one or two instances. Now I am looking forward to the good new days.
