Hello All – Greetings from Berlin, our new home! Overall, we are settling in nicely. The United States Government seems to love “hit-the-ground-running” starts, so we arrived Saturday, had school orientation Monday, Embassy orientation Tuesday, Nick’s first day of work Tuesday, and the first day of school Wednesday! It’s been a lot, but we’re slowly figuring out our new routine and how to structure our days.
I was a bit nervous about our housing assignment because we saw floor plans and pictures in advance and it was quite a bit cozier than our previous places (about 1300 sq feet total), and had ZERO closets.
You know how I usually do massive Target and Costco runs and have piles of food and toiletries to take with us? Not this time. The plan is to try and live entirely off what’s available to us here. We also heavily pared down what possessions we took. We brought no furniture, and only around 1500 of the 3000 pounds of stuff we own (for reference, we were allowed to bring up to 8,000 pounds between air freight, boat freight and suitcases).
I’m going to have a to get a bit creative with where we put things, but overall, the storage situation is not as dire as I originally thought because we have five free-standing wardrobes and a good amount of kitchen cupboard space to utilize.
The plusses of the apartment are many – it’s light and airy, has screens on all the windows, and has a contemporary look with beautiful wood floors. We are thrilled with it. Feels very European.
You can check out some initial pictures HERE.
We’re in the Southwest suburb of Berlin, so Nick’s commute to the city center is about 45 minutes to an hour each day depending on traffic. Nia goes the exact opposite direction of Nick each day, past the boundaries of Berlin, and her school bus ride is just under 30 minutes each way.
Just a quick check-in today, but I’ll be back soon with more updates!
