I'm a simple emigrant and I've been in this status for three years already

This Saturday, November 20, I had yet another anniversary of moving to Germany. When people ask me whether to celebrate this fact or pity me, I don’t even know what to answer. There’s nothing to pity, I’m still here, which means I like it. But there isn’t much to celebrate either: the years that have flown by aren’t exactly my doing. The first eighteen months after the move were wonderful. Everything around was new and interesting, getting the household in order, getting to know the team and the work, exploring the country. I recently remembered that only in 2019 I managed to go to a music festival and Oktoberfest, travelled around Germany, visited different countries in Europe and Asia, hosted old friends and met a huge number of new ones. Who knew that the next eighteen months would be full of deprivation and a shrinking circle of friends. This period underscored just how busy my life usually is. But even that was necessary: a rare opportunity to do nothing, because that’s what has to be done, and not out of laziness. By the way, when I first moved, there was already a sense that here was the long-awaited rest from the crazy life of a student-activist! The one who said that love lasts three years surely did not mean a place of residence. That time is barely enough to come to terms with a new country. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, or where I will end up, but one thing I can say for sure: it’s good where I am. And to all questions about plans I will answer that for now I don’t intend to move anywhere, unless I have to, of course. And what is important to you in a place of residence? #emigrant_happiness