Alien in America

Today we met a girl we hadn’t seen in a while. She made a compliment on my hair and asked what I had changed about it. I told her that I just let it grow and didn’t color it in quite some time and she said that I am pretty well adjusting to the Californian way of life. And I have to tell you I actually feel like I am. I changed quite a bit since we got here. The outer looks might be the obvious and to me the most natural change, because it is probably extremely normal that you adjust to your surrounding first. But I also changed my way of life a lot.

Since we moved here I kinda jumped on that health train the Californians are all crazy about. I try to mostly buy organic food, I try to eat and stay healthy and also super Californian: I am addicted to Coconut water. This weekend Flo and I also took a very Californian lesson. We took our new Longboards (Skateboards) for a spin for the first time. We drove to the beach and longboarded along the promenade between Huntington and Newport Beach. Even if we felt crazily sore the whole weekend, we had a great time and will most likely be down there for our next Longboard spin very soon.

Since we moved here I always felt very homy and comfortable in California. But I didn’t expect to adjust to the Californian lifestyle that fast. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think I am super Californian after living here for one year. But I am pretty happy about how well I am adjusting to my new surrounding and even more about how happy it makes me!

My parents are in town and we decided to take them for a walk at the Crystal Cove Beach near Newport Beach today. It’s a really quiet and nice beach and the weather was perfect for a long walk. After one hour we met with some friends from Irvine and had a little late lunch break. We sat on a little hill by the beach and enjoyed some ice cream, milk shakes and sandwiches. Shortly after we sat down, we noticed some Whale Watching tour boats near the coast. And since they were adding up, we took a closer look and finally spotted some whales.

The last time my parents were here we took them on a Whale Watching Trip in Dana Point. Sadly we didn’t end up seeing any Whales, but still had tons of fun on the boat and watching the dolphins in the water. Today we didn’t even keep our eyes open for Whales, so this was a very welcomed surprise. And for sure it again made us feel so blessed to live at this beautiful place! I sometimes really need those quiet, basic days at the beach to realize how lucky I really am!

So as a little tip for your next walk on the beach: Keep your eyes open. It’s normally pretty easy to spot some dolphins or seals from the coast or the many piers we have down here in OC. And if you are really lucky you might even spot something bigger than a dolphin – just as we did today.

I have to admit, that very rarely but still it happens that I am scared. Scared of the future – which is probably the most human thing ever. But I think I am even more scared, because it is a future in a foreign country. Don’t get me wrong, I never regreted our decision to move here. But sometimes it still is a little bit scary.

Being so far away from everything and everyone you grew up with and also being so far away from everything just being normal. Even after a year in the US, nearly every day is a little journey on it’s own. Every day you learn something new – even if it’s only a new word. But it is still a lot to take in! I actually sometimes enjoy this type of “scare”! It is a being scared that wakes you up and reminds you that you fulfiled a huge dream and that you were brave enough to try something new! But other times i have those very brief moments were it is a scary type of being scared!

Moving to a new country is hard! It’s exciting, amazing and totally worth the rollercoaster of emotions – but still is scary! Never forget that my future fellow Aliens! But also never forget that you only have one life to live. One life to live your dreams! And being a little scared is a very low price to pay for how amazing this feels!