How (and why) I came to Germany

People sometimes ask me how and why I moved to Germany. So here's the answer.

Chapters:
00:00 From the beginning
00:25 University
01:16 The original plan
02:04 The flaw in the plan
03:13 Plan B

Music:
"Style Funk" and "Hot Swing"
Creative Commons Attribution licence

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[K__a__M__I]

Hey! I was actually, genuinely interested in hearing about Glastonbury! Not cool!

[teh-maxh]

Since this is Youtube, I thought you were going to give a detailed explanation of *how* you got to Germany, as in the specific trains you took.

[Ross]

Parts of your story sound very familiar, Andrew. I came to Germany in 1990 with the idea of spending a year here and here I still am, 32 years later.

[hypatian]

I went to Berlin to study in 1994 and stayed for nearly 15 years - it was an exciting time, but now I'm back in my small hometown (15k inhabitants) and am so glad that I hear cows + chickens instead of cars and airplanes. But every now and then I try to remember all the things I could do and eat there, I try to remember how Vietnamese food tastes or Mongolian or Indian...

[Redhand]

I thought I might be be your oldest subscriber, being born in 1949, but the person who is 30 years your senior easily beat me. I lived in Munich 1967-69, and it was a fantastic experience. Have vacationed in Germany too, and still speak passable German.

Thank you for sharing your story. I was curious and really enjoy your channel.

[downhilltwofour]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I have found over the years (I'm 30 years your senior), that life is about unexpected opportunities and having the good fortune of making the right choice. I have been blessed in that way. Stay safe and stay healthy because we need your wisdom and knowledge for years to come (I hope)! Happy holidays to you, your family (yes including your cat) and your friends!

[annarock]

Hallo, Andrew! Das mit Herrenberg hat mir sofort gefallen! Ich verbrachte meine ersten 4 Lebensjahre dort, bis ich 1967 nach Leonberg zog, wo ich heute noch lebe. Herrenberg hat sich an bestimmten Plätzen nicht verändert, was mich sehr froh macht. Übrigens: es wäre mal lustig, Dich auf Russisch zu hören. Kannst Du es noch?

[popogast]

Sehr angenehm erzählt.
Ein ❤ für Andrew.

[f.k.]

You’re the voice of reason. Glad to have you with us. Keep them coming

[felixw]

I'm honestly surprised you didn't have a video on this already

[anniestumpy]

Well we're glad to have you here :)

[WasOne]

I came from the US in 1986. Still live in a small town just outside of Stuttgart.

[Hypatia]

I did go to St. Petersburg around this time to teach English. It was very hsrd: language schools kept collapsing financially and i was out of work for periods of time. It was lonely as i was trying to avoid ex-pat and English-speaking environments. I stayed there a couple of brutal but interesting years and i still csnt speak Russian very well 😂

[ArmandoBellagio]

That's interesting. Never knew you lived in Berlin so long, but that's explains the ponytail I guess haha. Very romantic you moved to that small Bavarian town for love. Well, at least it's near here to Frankfurt.

"I had to get out of the habit of speaking German with a Swabian accent" I've been there. After living for some time near Stuttgart, I found myself coming back to UK speaking something that was technically German but not quite. People were mildly confused. 😅

[corneliusludwig]

I'm following your channel for years now, but (as a native of Baden-Württemberg) I have just been to Herrenberg last Saturday 😂 -- glad to have you here and three cheers to the lady who made you stay! Greetings from Wiesbaden 🎉

[haramaschabrasir]

I was wondering what you were telling in the sped up part. Thanks for clarifying.

[Timeyy]

0:50 the accent thing is super funny, always reminds me of a story one of my old German teachers would tell about an exchange student from China who spent a year in Munich and then went to the Ruhrgebiet, people could barely understand them because the student's Bavarian accent was so thick lmao.

[Jules_Diplopia]

Cool story.
I was an economic migrant moving to the Netherlands for work in 2000. Then I met a Dutch woman, the work ended, so I started a business with my Dutch friend, learnt Dutch fast, being in a shop and talking to customers all day long will help.
Now I have been here 22 years and am the proud owner of a Dutch passport. Still have the British one too, but will never use it.

[gustavmeyrink_.]

I'm almost the complete opposite!
In '87 I moved from Berlin(West) to Birmingham planning on spending a year or two there and I'm still here with wife and children an' all.
Funny how you can get stuck in the weirdest places. One difference is that I still have regular if rare contact with most of my German friends.