Thinking of packing your suitcase and becoming an expat? Here are some tips on how to make it happen. Photo cc flickr user Jonas Design & Photography

Ever since I started blogging about my expat life in Germany, I’ve gotten questions from readers asking for help.  People wanted to know more about my decision to come here, about getting a job or a visa, and about learning the language.  As I often get the same questions again and again, I’ve put together a few of the most frequently asked so that it is easier for you to find answers.  If I haven’t touched upon something you’d love to know more about, leave your questions in the comments, and I will include them in future Q&A blog posts.

The Post Tower in Bonn, former West German capital and host to this year's German Unity Day celebrations. Photo (cc) flickr user Thomas Roessier

I had only been in Germany for one month when I was confronted by the first unfamiliar holiday: Tag der Deutschen Einheit or German Unity Day on October 3rd.  It would be the first in a long list of holidays that would take me by surprise and leave me standing helplessly outside of a locked grocery store that I didn’t expect to find closed on a Monday.  It is the expat’s curse: most of the holidays you are familiar with no longer exist, and new holidays are always sneaking up on you just when you’ve run out of things to cook for dinner.  I’ve been here for six years now, and I still can’t keep them all straight.

The author during her second year in Germany, overlooking Dresden. Photo (c) ClickClackGorilla

I suppose time has always moved at this pace, but with something to measure it by, it always appears to have sped up behind my back. The end of another school year, the celebration of another birthday, the day that marks your six-year anniversary in a country you landed in—in fact, stayed in—completely by accident.

The ice cream colors of Weimar. Photo (c) Resident on Earth

Last August I was anxious for a bit of travel, so I packed my backpack, and got on the train headed for a spontaneous three-day trip through Thuringia. I didn’t really have a solid plan or any hotels lined up. I just wanted to ride the trains and see where I turned up. Thanks to TQE for his tips along the way! I wish I had visited before he bailed on Thuringia and moved to Berlin.

Eisenach