Why We Chose to Move to Germany + Why We Think It's an Awesome Place to Live! 🇩🇪

so today we want to share 15 reasons why we think   germany is an awesome place to live and  why we chose to move here specifically so hey everybody welcome back to our channel  we're the mcfalls i'm sara and i'm kevin   and we are a family of six with four kids a  cat and a hamster and we moved from america   to germany in february of 2021 which  is one year ago yeah one year ago so   now we've been here a whole year so  we know everything there is to know   just skating we still feel like we know  nothing but we know a little more than nothing   so one thing we haven't shared with you here on  the channel is why we chose germany specifically   i mean you know america is a pretty great place to  live a lot of people come from all over the world   and immigrate to america i think what a lot of  americans don't realize is there are millions of   immigrants coming to europe as well and to many  different countries in europe the netherlands   denmark belgium france italy spain we've met  people who've immigrated here from all over   the world to all these different countries here in  europe so why would we pick germany when we maybe   could have picked denmark we could have picked  belgium we could have picked the netherlands we   could have gone back to france we already could  basically speak a lot of french we wouldn't be   starting over from scratch with the french  language why don't we just go back to france   and i speak conversational level spanish so why  didn't we move to spain where this the language   would be easier there so we wanted to share with  you why we chose germany and some of these reasons   aren't to say that other countries in europe or  even america don't have these things right but   we're just specifically going to focus on germany  today because it would just be a really long video   if we tried to include all the countries yeah  and some of the things that we'll talk about are   similar in some of the other countries in  europe too but were things that we were   looking for in general uh you know that we didn't  necessarily have in america so number one is the   strong economy in germany so at least according to  investopedia germany has the fourth highest gdp in   the world so it's very strong and it's the leader  within the eu especially with the uk leaving the   eu i mean even still they're fifth fifth after  germany but that clearly puts germany as the   leader in terms of economic power in the eu and  what that means for us is i mean kevin already   has a job here but we knew for our children's  future they would be able to find jobs here   and be able to find good jobs in a wide variety  of careers and jobs later on so then number two   is there's just a ton of tech jobs in germany well  especially in the munich area and here in tech   right and i work i work in tech so when  i was looking for jobs to come here   it just popped up munich just kept popping  up over and over and over again and i didn't   realize that it's kind of like the sort of silicon  valley of europe in a way where a lot of tech is   and we could have moved from the atlanta area say  to california i mean that's where my company has   its headquarters i could have moved there  but the cost of living is so high there   and you know even i may have made you know a  lot more money perhaps than than coming here   it wouldn't have made much of a difference  i don't think because you know the housing   prices and everything's so expensive there and  sure yeah munich is pretty expensive germany   has some things about it that are expensive  but at least we don't live in munich we're   sort of in a small town and so that brings some  of the costs down so it just was really strong in   terms of tech and germany is well known all around  the world for engineering and that's my field so   it just was a very natural fit for me yeah yeah  so i mean california is a really cool place to   live in the u.s a lot of people want to live there  except for the high prices there are many people   leaving california and have left because of how  expensive it is to live there so yeah that was a   big drawback to us right for living california  and california doesn't have everything we   want it doesn't have the european lifestyle i  mean except a few cities that if you live in the   downtown you could have a walkable more european  lifestyle but you're talking exorbitant housing   prices that there's no way we could have ever  afforded them unless we had a little tiny like   hamster cage of an apartment but so the prices  in california really made us go in not so sure   about this and it compared to american prices and  where we even lived in atlanta the cost of living   in munich is actually not that much more than what  we were used to i know it's high for germany but   but compared to american prices and it's not that  much different and in this yeah for like groceries   and stuff like that i mean sort of gas is a lot  higher and uh and rent or or housing is higher but   many of the day-to-day costs aren't actually  that bad compared to what we're used to   yeah so we knew that our money would go farther in  munich certainly than it would then in california   and of course we're going to give you uh now 13  more reasons why still we like germany better   than a place like california so the number  three is germany not only has a strong economy   and has a lot of tech jobs but just a lot of  well-known brands in industry there's just a   lot of opportunities to work you've got bmw and  audi and mercedes and siemens and dhl and t-mobile   you know all of these companies that are known  around the world and all the yeah yes absolutely   and so there's just a lot of opportunity for our  children and you know to be able to get jobs here   and have a really good life and again it's similar  in the u.s there's a ton of industry sure there   too coca-cola is headquartered in atlanta you know  where we used to live and ups and home depot and   you know there were some big there's a strong job  market in atlanta where you're from in atlanta   there's a strong job market and people come from  all over the us to atlanta to get jobs so but at   least we weren't losing anything coming here we  weren't losing anything yeah so our kids would   have had a lot of opportunities in the us and  also here we didn't want to lose that you know   so then number four is that it's a central  location in europe uh say for example if   we had moved to paris which is a just amazingly  gorgeous city you know it's you have to go quite a   long ways to get anywhere i'm sure you can get to  belgium and and netherlands isn't so far but you   know you're surrounded a lot by france and uh you  know here harder to travel yeah here in the munich   area you can get to italy in a few hours you can  get france in a few hours you can get the czech   republic in a few hours you can get to croatia you  know there's just you know being sort of in the   middle there you can go out in all directions and  so that was really cool that there's just so many   different cultures and languages within you know a  five-hour drive from here say then madrid or paris   or something like that or or london even yeah we  know you guys already know this but as americans   it's like a big giant island i mean we only border  canada which also speaks english and then mexico   you're not even close to the border unless  you live in texas or one of the very northern   you know u.s states and u.s is so huge that it  costs a lot of money and it takes a lot you need a   lot of time off of work to travel internationally  so that's why so many americans don't travel   internationally and only know english yeah i mean  you simply do need a lot more money and you need   a lot of time you need a good two weeks off of  work to make your time abroad worth it and to   enjoy it right so the older we both got you know  the older our kids were getting we started to   realize oh my gosh we're never going to be able  to go back to traveling like we used to when we   lived in france which we in case you don't know we  lived in france when we were first married for two   years it wasn't that long but it was long enough  for us to realize like gosh we want to be able to   be exposed to more cultures and more languages and  more lifestyles it's so good for your mind to stay   flexible and open-minded when you're exposed  to different ways of life and we want that for   our children and we started to realize living in  the u.s this is just never going to happen unless   kevin gets another job and makes a lot more money  but not only that you could make a lot more money   not have the time but we wouldn't have the time  off in fact you would probably have less time off   because your job would be more would be bigger  you'd have a bigger managerial role i mean we   figured when i when we retire we would have time  to go and travel but why wait until we retire why   don't we go and live the life we want now and not  like thinking oh when when this happens then we'll   be able to do it let's just do it now and there's  no guarantees neither one of us may make it to 65.   you just have no idea what's coming in your life  we both sort of thought seize the day why not   now if we can do it if kevin can't find a job  in germany why not let's try it yeah you know   so that's what we did okay so number five is the  great public transportation here in germany and   great infrastructure now in the us as we've talked  about in many videos you basically have to drive   everywhere with a few exceptions in a few cities  or towns but here in europe nearly every town is   walkable so we could have picked really in a  european country to be able to experience that   it's not maybe not something that's specifically  unique to germany germany is well known for their   great public transportation and everything  being on time and having good connections i didn't research that really well okay let's see if there's hopefully  in the exact same position germany also has very orderly on-time public  transportation of course it's not perfect   everywhere like our kids will sometimes get picked  up 15 minutes late to go to school but that's   because we live in a small town so the connections  are not always great in small towns which makes   sense less people less money you know all of  that but for traveling and for going to other   cities and traveling around the cities the public  transportation is excellent in germany and a very   affordable especially for a family kids go free on  so many of our train rides they've gone free bus   rides also free so they're very friendly to  families and that of course is a huge bonus for us   and we knew that coming from the u.s we had two  cars in the u.s once our kids start driving you   need another car for your kids often times at 16.  not every family can afford that i mean that's a   lot of money uh but we knew that coming to germany  we were not going to need but one car for a long   time right and our kids can't even drive to the  they're 18 but they're not going to need to they   can take the train they can take the bus take  their bikes they can walk to friends houses so   just more options and you know that contributes to  a lower cost of living for us and was a big bonus   so germany is well known for being orderly just  like we're saying with uh with the infrastructure   and the transportation but sort of all the  bureaucratic type things you know yeah there's   a lot of rules and you have to get things right  um but everything seems to work well we expect   we're sort of expecting that where you know we've  had friends from italy or other places that have   complained that things don't move smoothly and  nicely and at least our understanding was that   in germany you know we might not have as many of  those types of problems and you know so far things   go smoothly when when they say something's gonna  happen in a particular way it does happen and you   know at least what to expect yeah it's logical and  orderly so it's not as if you feel like things are   subjective i mean in some situations they are like  with my visa issues that i've been talking about   that is actually been a subjective issue um  it doesn't seem to follow the rules or laws   yeah and people seem to line up orderly here  you know like if you're waiting in a store or   something and i remember in france all the time  there'd always be people trying to cut in line   and get ahead of you yeah big massive group yeah  you just have this big group and this big amoeba   and like everyone's fighting and jostling for for  you know their place in line and you know here   it's nice you know who who's first and who's next  and so that it's nice except in the grocery stores   really yeah i mean like you'll be all lined up  and then the cafe oh yeah with the second cap this   massive group of people runs to the to the castle  when the second question is called in english yeah   cashier when the second cashier opens there is  a bit of a mad rush together that's true that's   the one time when germans are not orderly in line  which i think is so funny you guys let us know in   the comments below how come that's the exception  i want to know i'm glad there are exceptions   though you can't be orderly all the time right  so number seven is a really good education system   there's a lot of really strong universities in  in germany uh one thing that we love and has is   very famous across the world is the apprenticeship  program and how and yes college is important and   prioritized in many ways but there's other paths  to get to really good solid jobs and going through   real schula and going and getting into a trade  that's a respectable path towards education here   and in america if you don't go to college you're  nothing you know and college or nothing yeah it   didn't it didn't used to be that it didn't used  to be that way and unfortunately it is is now   mostly that way so in germany there's just a lot  of different paths there's trade schools there's   good universities and universities free i mean  that's a that's a big savings a massive like that   was one of the biggest reasons we chose germany  let's say there's four children we save like a   million dollars okay 500 000 euros you know saved  by coming here yeah that's a lot of money it's a   ton of money yeah and with the trade programs you  know if i really like that option because if our   children are not so interested in college and say  maybe one wants to be a baker and own a becca guy   or one wants to own a mets good eye or or you know  get a trade in something the trades are very well   respected here you have to have a lot of education  and training even just to get qualified to be a   car mechanic or to be a baker and and so i feel  like our children have a lot more options when   it comes to jobs where they're not just focused on  some college degree because i know so many people   in the u.s they go to college and they get  completely useless degrees and they waste their   money they waste their four years and they have  a degree that they honestly can't even get a job   with they don't have a skill because they majored  in something that doesn't translate well to a job   and that's happening more and more and it's  it's really a shame because it's so much money   and time wasted when that same student could  have just gone and gotten a really good trade   but because there's such a stigma against  that now in the u.s where college is the   end-all be-all a lot of people are getting lost  in the job market i think and aren't getting good   job skills anymore a lot of people in america  where their parents pressure them to become   a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or some of the  higher paying professions and put so much pressure   on their children that they end up majoring  in something that they're not interested in   and then they suffer through college and they're  not on the right path and you know just that that   is is tricky and i like you know more here where  you have a path and you're more likely to choose   something that you really enjoy in a career that  you like rather than one that's just going to make   you money right i mean and that's happening in  many other countries around the world and always   has doctors lawyers they've always been like the  pinnacle of career success so i think that happens   in a lot more than just america but probably  even happens here in germany too yeah we're just   excited that our kids will have so many options  with the trade program here so america is famous   or maybe infamous for the amount of health care  spending so in america is spending about 11 000   per person per year in america on health care  and that's nearly twice as much as what it is   in germany about 6 600 per year per capita  and so there's almost twice the spending on   health care in america now okay fine if you  have overwhelmingly better health outcomes   you know maybe that's worth it right but the but  the life expectancy is about three years higher   in germany than it is in america so hopefully  we've we've earned ourselves three extra years   by moving here and if you know by most all  the rankings of you know the quality of the   infrastructure and the quality of the healthcare  germany comes out well above america so all of   that spending is not giving us exceptionally  better health care so you know we're spending   less on health care here it's working easier and  is you know it is more equitable for people here   in germany so that's a clear a clear winner on  our book is is healthcare for coming here to   germany and as parents that matters again for when  our kids leave i know that if my if any of our   children lose their job or come down on hard times  in life they're never going to lose health care   while they're here in germany and in the u.s they  could and they could be you know 25 26 years old   with no health care and that is a huge problem for  us and we so we felt like we were giving our kids   americans don't like to hear this but we're  giving our kids a better opportunity for having   great health care yeah you know as parents we're  definitely thinking about our children's future   and for ourselves as we get older what if  kevin loses his job and we lose the health   care we have in in the u.s you know that's not  going to happen here in germany we're always   going to have health care as long as the current  program and you know laws don't change of course   anything can change but for now we know that this  is what we've got here and also we've just seen   like the simplicity of the healthcare system  it can be quite complicated and beefy and   what's the right word like just bloated bloated  yes it can be very bloated in the u.s where you're   you know you're going to this specialist that  specialist this specialist there's long waiting   times that's one of the things americans think  happen over here is that you guys are spending   like months trying to get to see a oncologist  or or months trying to see your your ob gyn or   you know and you start talking to people and  it's like no it was quickly let us know in the   comments though things do seem to before covered  of course because i think has changed everything   because the healthcare systems are overwhelmed  but our first encounter with that was in france   we didn't even have healthcare right when we first  arrived and we were paying out of pocket i had a   herniated disc in my back and we were paying  out of pocket to the doctor and it was like 25   euros to go to the doctor i remember that she  was like this is the full price i'm so sorry   and i was like 25 euros is the full price oh  my gosh if i went to a doctor in the u.s that   had to pay full price for a visit 150 dollars at  least plus medicine plus oh it's so unaffordable   and even when we were here grayson within the  month first month or two when we got here he had   a little accident and we you know hurt his hurt  his tongue and we had to go to the emergency room   and we were still working on finalizing our  health insurance and so when i was there i   didn't actually have the health insurance card  to show them and they took all of her information   and in the end they sent us a bill and it  was like 90 euros or something like that   to go to the emergency room and get help for  his tongue and at that point i was like yeah   i know he had insurance and all that and i  could go and figure out what form i needed   to submit to get them to put it on insurance  insurance like 90 euros that's nothing you know   i'm happy i happily just paid that to not have  to worry about how to figure out how to work   in america 90 dollars is the co-pay of going to  the er yeah just to get in the door just to get in   the door if you go just for something simple like  what grayson had it would have been probably two   or three thousand dollar builds that you get from  the er if you have any sort of surgery it's tens   of thousands of dollars you know so healthcare  is a real big problem in the u.s and it was nice   to be able to be like let's just go to our country  while the healthcare is easy and great and they've   got it quite frankly they've got it figured out  right at least compared to what we're used to   i'm sure as germans you're probably like oh  i don't like this i don't like that about it   and feel free to let us know in the comments below  if there are cons that you're not liking about it   because we'd love to see the whole picture as well  and number nine this is a big one for me it's a   women's rights issue it is maternity and paternity  leave that we have here in germany there is no   national policy at all in the us for guaranteed  paid maternity or paternity leave now there are   many companies that are offering it if you're  getting it at all it's for six weeks for people   who work at places like walmart target mcdonald's  and have what we call i don't even like to call   it this but you know unskilled labor um of course  they are skilled so i don't like that word at all   but that's what they call it for those people they  maybe are getting six weeks of maternity leave but   they're not getting paid they can actually  keep their job but they're not getting paid   the working poor they cannot afford to work not  work for six weeks they can't afford to just not   get paid for six weeks so they end up going back  to work and this harms the health of the mother   the health of the child they have much worse  outcomes for infants mortality rates and things   it's a really big issue to me that is as a woman i  think is a women's rights issue and it keeps women   out of the workplace and i know had we had a  guaranteed maternity leave program in the u.s   there would be a lot more culture of moms working  and women working even after having babies because   here in germany you can get you know 18 months  even up to three years off of work and not with   full pay but not with full pay yeah right but  still you you're guaranteed to get your job back   you know for our daughter ella i felt like again  i'm giving her a better opportunity by living here   because ella is going to feel like i can have my  children have my family and also have a career i   don't have to give up my career to have a family  here i know many of my friends who probably would   have kept their jobs and kept their careers if  they could have had a longer maternity leave   because six to 12 weeks off is quite frankly a  complete joke because no woman feels recovered   after 12 weeks and you're not ready to leave your  baby after sick definitely not after six weeks   but not after 12 weeks either you need that whole  year you need that whole year with your children   and so many countries in the eu do offer this and  this is not just unique to germany so go eu we   think it's awesome and even for you know our sons  they're going to get paternity leave and paternity   leave is important also because what a better way  to say hey dads you matter and dads you need to be   part of helping to raise the children and it's  great bonding time for their debt for the dads   and their children so our sons are going to get to  experience that too so it was very important to me   to find a country that has maternity and paternity  leave so the number 10 is a good work life balance   i do feel like germany does a better job of  of making sure that you have your time off and   that you can recharge and i don't know what is it  there's something like 18 or so uh bank holidays   or you know official holidays that i get off and  then i get my my statutory 30 days of vacation   and my company actually gives me some extra  days off as well so i get quite a lot of time   off and yeah i feel like uh you know that  is really great that it's not just go go go   work work work push yourself up the ladder try  to stomp on everybody to make it farther and   and work harder than all of your other colleagues  to show that you're doing better that's sort of   the way things are in america and it's not quite  the same here in germany and what i've noticed too   kind of like with the sundays everything being  closed here on sundays you you sort of feel   that sense of like you can take a deep breath on  sundays like i don't have to be out doing anything   you the whole environment around you is calmer  you know they're they're weak they're really tags   i don't know if you can say but they're they're  calm days the energy in the air is sort of this   calming energy sunday is calm day and it's the  same with the work-life balance like people have   more time off here a lot of people here get um i  know you germans know this but you can get off on   fridays at noon and so we see our neighbors out  right they're like hanging out with their kids   drinking a beer on their patios outside hanging  out with their kids riding bicycles going for   walks and so you're in this environment where hey  everybody's out there having fun i don't want to   be in here working you know it even encourages  you to really have that work-life balance and   make sure you're not working yourself too hard  and in the u.s okay you may have one company   that gives their employees great time off and has  a good work balance there are some companies that   have good work but it's not guaranteed it's not  guaranteed it could change in the next day you   you know you never know yeah and the environment  around you feels like go go go work work work   you can't stop because if you don't stop somebody  else gets ahead well if they're ahead oh no now   you've failed you know and that's the mentality  in the u.s it has gotten better i would say i   do think millennials are sort of breaking  that yes millennials thank you millennials   we're like no we're not going to sell our  souls to our jobs and our careers anymore   you're going to take good care of us we're going  to enjoy our lives so yes it is changing in the us   but still that culture is stronger in the us  than it is in germany so number 11 is wanting to   live in the alpine area you know we just really  love the mountains we love all the activities   you can do is just so beautiful and so you know  picking somewhere in the alpine region you know   i did apply for jobs in switzerland i applied for  some jobs in austria and some in northern italy   i did even apply for some jobs in sweden as well  but the alps really drew us it's a place where you   can get really nice winners you can do all sorts  of outdoor activities and yet still be centrally   located so germany and switzerland and austria  you know even though it's not at least where we   live is on the very southern part of that it's not  especially far north as things go in europe but it   still feels i feel like brethren with sweden and  and and scandinavia well you have a oh yeah i mean   you have a lot of german blood in you well i do  have a lot of german blood i think kind of a lot   of german culture in your family yeah sure you're  raised logical and you know doing that literally   that way sure yeah and so you know i really  loved sweden and as much as i loved scandinavia   i felt like it was too far away from central  europe and it's colder and a bit more isolated and   you know there's cool viking history and stuff  there but it's not some of the same medieval type   history you have here in central europe and so i  still feel a connection to northern europe living   here i remember very clearly i don't remember  what town it was in but i was in austria and just   having the same brand machines for pressing the  button to cross the street as what they had in   sweden and i was like it just feels like what i  was used to and enjoyed in sweden you know the   houses in many ways look similar and just you i  got that northern european feel and and culture   and yet was not really far north and were very  centrally located and have the beautiful alps here   so you know this alpine region the the dach the  the the deutschland austria and switzerland area   just feels like home yeah it feels like  home doing yeah it does and we're like   if we're going to pick up our entire lives  and transplant our whole family somewhere   you know it was kind of we kind of had this sense  like if we could point anywhere on a map where   would we pick and honestly it would have been  maybe the rockies in the u.s i mean because the   rockies are stunningly gorgeous in the us but you  know didn't have the culture in the history and   languages yeah all these other things right we  would get the mountain culture but we wouldn't   get the the yeah other things we just mentioned  but um you know so we maybe we would pick the   rockies but we kept finding ourselves being drawn  to mountains we want to be in the mountains and   okay the next logical option is the alps there's  such strong economies all around the alps uh of   switzerland austria and germany  so let's go to the alps you know   number 12 is being safe and living in a safe place  and germany is a great safe place you look at the   intentional death rate and it's about five  times higher in america than it is in germany   and just the overall crime rate is significantly  lower so that yearly intentional death rate that's   essentially the murder rate you know doesn't  count suicides it doesn't count suicides   it's uh in germany it's about 0.9 uh per year for  every 100 000 inhabitants and in america it's five   so it's a little bit more than five times higher  so you know that's that's a big deal i don't know   maybe we've mentioned this before but there's no  active shooter drills in our kids schools you know   and there's no protocols of where all the  doors and the schools are all locked and   you have to show your id you walk up to the  school and you have to show your id to the camera   before they'll let you into the school you know to  protect their children from active shooters right   you know that's not okay yeah so that's just  you know that doesn't happen here yeah and that   that was one issue that started to make us go  um not so sure about this anymore living here   i don't like the thought that i can send my kid  to school and they have to be trained how to hide   behind under a desk because someone might come in  and shoot at them and someone might actually come   in they might they might because it's happened  many times yeah and even people started to bring   guns to grocery stores and there's grocery  stores they've been shot up in churches and   and it's like as i was really starting to feel  less safe because it started to become random   and it happened it happened around where we  live too yes it did it was not just somewhere   else there were shootings that happened in the  town that we lived in so we lived in a safe town   we lived in a safe town yeah indeed so number 13  is that the culture here just resonates with us um   it wasn't really until we moved here though that  we realized how much of a culture of self-reliance   and independence you have with children and we  have a whole video series on that that i can   link in the description below but we really like  that we were already raising our children that way   our kids they get to say so they get to have their  own opinion in our household and they we have been   raising our kids to be independent and have their  own minds and and so it's really cool to come to   germany and see oh this is already done here and  our kids are so much more independent and that we   did know before we moved here the kids are more  independent and we thought well great this is   going to be good for our kids because things are  safer here and because public transportation is so   good that you can send your kids out more and they  can take the train and the bus and they get around   by themselves and you don't have to be a taxi  driver all the time like you do in the us you're   always having to drive your kids around now now  because we live in a small town it feels a little   bit more like america here kevin's having to  drive grace into ice hockey practice all the time   so to get to local clubs and things if they're  outside of our town you're still going to have   to drive so it's not like that everywhere in  germany but it definitely if you're living   in a suburb of a big city or living in a big city  your kid's probably going to be able to get around   pretty good well even one of the things i've been  proud of is that we've only filled up our tank of   gas nine times in one year you know so we're not  we've traveled yeah we've traveled and been a lot   of places so we're not constantly driving our  kids everywhere you know when the friend comes   over he just walks home from school with them you  know yeah it's really cool and so we're glad that   we can give our kids more independence at a much  younger age here and it's safe to do so so number   14 is there are systems in place here in germany  to support families with children specifically   like the kindergarten and so you know that's  was you know when we when i i knew that i was   not going to get the same salary that i would if  i had moved to california but i also knew that   we would be getting the kindergarten and that's  significant amount of money for four children   so you know that makes a big difference and  i knew that that was going to help offset   any other problems with with the salary of it  being lower so that was definitely a draw we knew   that we would get that support and for those who  are wanting to immigrate to germany you can get   anywhere from 200 euros a month to 250 depending  on which city you're in and what the cost of   living and how many kids you have and how many  kids you have yeah so yes 250 euros a month per   kid to you know a range of that around that much  somewhere in that ballpark yeah yeah and that's a   big help it's a huge help yeah it's amazing yeah  so number 15 the last one on our list is that we   just simply love europe our hearts are here and  we always wanted to come back i know you guys   our regulars have heard this already but kevin  lived in sweden for five years he lived in france   for five years i lived in france with him for two  of those years i've traveled around europe and   then we both travel together anyway we're just yes  we like it here we feel like we are europeans like   we've always liked it here we've always liked the  mindset we've always liked the more social economy   that you have here and we like the support that  are given to people it feels more equitable and   more fair here and that always resonated with us  and we always felt like we wanted to support that   and now we're here supporting it and our tax  dollars are going here and i feel proud to be   in germany and to live in germany and to be in  part of the eu and we wanted to not just travel   okay sure maybe we could save our money and maybe  we could set aside something maybe we could come   for two weeks every third year or something like  that yes and travel to europe but that's just not   wasn't going to be enough even even if i had done  you know when i was at the university maybe i'd   do some sort of study abroad program you know for  some summer or whatever but it's just not the same   as coming and integrating and becoming part of the  society and you know being connected with all of   our friends down the street and really living a  german life that's so totally different than just   traveling and we both really wanted that and i'm  glad that we made that decision it's been really   hard but but man we have really engineered the  life that we wanted to have here in this beautiful   area in a great country and you know it's just  been wonderful yeah and if you can engineer your   life create your life to be that why not though  i know not everyone in the world has that sort   of privilege and we definitely have privilege  especially coming from a country like america so   um we don't take that for granted that we got to  do that and not everyone will yeah all right guys   so thanks so much for watching we hope you enjoyed  another video always a pleasure to be with you yes   and uh we enjoy reading your comments so yeah let  us know your thoughts below on all the things we   mentioned we'd love to hear your opinions and  thoughts and we will see you in the next video you

Channel: My Merry Messy German Life

Views: 159,699

Keywords: culture shocks, german culture shocks, culture shocks in germany, Moving to Germany, moving to Germany from usa, moving to Germany from America, moving to Germany with family, moving to Germany for work, Germany, Germany vs America, working in Germany, family traveling, traveling with a family, explore as a family, Americans in Germany, living abroad, life in Germany, moving abroad, moving abroad with family, travel as a family, schule in deutschland, Kulturschocks

Id: wItInW5KKUo

Length: 37min 12sec (2232 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 13 2022