There is one thing that everyone who lived in the US, would tell you: You will definitely learn to be more open while living here. And yes, I joined their club! We’ve only been here for two months now, but I already can tell that my behaviour when meeting new people totally changed!

Americans may be very ougoing, friendly and even superficial people. But that makes it so much easier to feel welcomed and to connect with other people. I was so worried that we might not get to know any people at all in the beginning. But as always in life fate just pulls you through. We were lucky enough to have the most welcoming and cute landlord for the first two months, who invited us to a weekly dinner party friends of hers are thworing. We went there for the second time yesterday. The first time we’ve been there was three weeks ago and Flo and I didn’t really connect with anyone. But yesterday it was different. We had so much fun, felt so welcome and met so many nice people from all over the world!

Since we’ve been here I’ve notived that it is so sad how we kind of avoided meeting interesting people when living in Germany. Sure, from time to time we met new people through friends in Cologne as well. But even after two months I met so many nice and wonderful people over here, that even that experience alone makes the whole emigration stress worth it!

So to everyone out there: If you are thinking about moving to another country (even if it’s only for a few weeks or months): DO IT! It will definitely help you to be more open-minded and friendly towards strangers. And who knows: Maybe it will get you some new best friends on top!

Not having many Paid Days Off work might be a bad thing about California or the US in general. But a good thing is that you can easily go on a great weekend getaway due to California’s wonderful landscape! It’s been Flo’s Birthday yesterday and because our last weekends have been a bit hectic and stressful I decided to invite him to a weekend stay at the Madonna Inn hotel in San Luis Obispo.

The Madonna Inn is a really famous hotel, mostly known for being a honeymoon hotspot. The hotel has a bit more than 100 rooms, which are all styled with different themes. You might wanna check out their website (www.madonnainn.com) to see how awesome that place looks. But not only the hotel is nice, but also it’s surrounding. San Luis Obispo is a small town, but the landscape is beautiful and if you like hiking, it’s a wonderful destination for you.

So, we will hop in our new car tomorrow morning, take a three hour drive to San Luis Obispo and than hopefully just relax! You might wonder why we wanna drive three hours just to see a great hotel. But after only two months over here I can tell you that 3 hours isn’t much. When living in Los Angeles you really have to get used to long hours in the car very fast, because the traffic over here is ridiculous. And three hours really sound like a reasonable time for me, when I get an awesome hotel, the best steak in the world (check out the hotel’s restaurant) and a romantic weekend with my husband in exchange!

So, as you may know we moved into our new flat on the weekend. The reason why I haven’t been posting much lately is easy to explain: We do not have a working internet connection, yet. Neither do we have a TV connection or living room furniture. But still, I love our new place so far!

It is a pretty strange feeling to move without having anything. We needed to buy pretty much everything, but tried to keep the bills down, because even if we love it here we have no idea how long we will be staying. We made some very good furniture bargains on Craigslist. For those of you who have never heard of Craigslist: It is an Internet platform, where you can sell stuff like furniture, clothes or cars and where you can put up other listings for your local neighbourhood. Craigslist is not only the place where we found a cheap bedroom and a cheap dining room set, but also were we found our car and Flo’s new job.

But back to the flat: Though it is really nice and cosy, we have to get used to all the noise in the house and to the new environment. Living in another country is nice, but also different and this is what you really have to get used to. And that takes time.

What I like best about our new flat so far: The gas stove, the huge fridge, the Runyon Canyon next door, the walk-in closet and our cute new bedroom!

What I already hate: The paper-thin “front door”, the crazy elevator and the laundry room next door!