8 Things We Miss About Living in Wiesbaden

8 Things We Miss About Living in Wiesbaden

We’ve officially been back to Michigan for five months…the same amount of time we lived in Germany. They say time flies when you’re having fun. Apparently time also flies when you’re living during a global pandemic. Not too long ago we were sipping glühwein at German Christmas markets and now we’re back home enjoying summer in Michigan.

Here are 8 things we miss about Wiesbaden:

1. The Charming Downtown Area

Wiesbaden is such a lovely city. It has a welcoming ambiance that made us feel at home almost instantly. One of our favorite parts of living abroad was taking the 20-minute walk downtown to stroll through the city, discover the local sights and sounds, and enjoy delicious food and drinks. Wiesbaden has the charm of a traditional German town with the liveliness of a larger city.

2. Traveling to New Places

Traveling has always been one of our favorite things to do. It was a surreal feeling to be able to hop on a train and travel almost anywhere in Europe. Our travels included spontaneous day trips to new cities as well as week-long adventures through multiple countries. We got to visit so many new places while living abroad…some that we had never even heard of before. Our favorite places included Ljubljana, Slovenia, Zagreb, Croatia, and Lucerne, Switzerland. We are so grateful we had the opportunity to explore so much of Europe before the border closed.

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Returning to the U.S. During a Global Pandemic

Returning to the U.S. During a Global Pandemic

The morning after celebrating my 21st birthday, my friends asked me how I was feeling. Slightly weird.

That’s exactly how I feel right now.

I’m currently unemployed without a house or car to call my own.

I knew moving back to Michigan after living in Germany would take some getting used to but I was not prepared for this. No one was.

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Parent’s Week in Wiesbaden

Parent’s Week in Wiesbaden

Visitors #2 & #3 came to visit us here in Wiesbaden the last week of January.

We’re so glad my parents were able to make the trip overseas to spend some quality time with us, see where we’ve been living the past few months, explore a little bit of Europe together, and enjoy real German beer.

They arrived just in time before we got too homesick. We moved here back in October so three months had passed since we had seen them…the longest I’d ever gone without seeing my parents!

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29 on The Rhine

29 on The Rhine

I got to celebrate my 29th birthday here in Germany. Can’t believe I’ll be entering a new decade next year. Most of the time I feel like I’m still 21.

Ryan celebrated his 29th birthday during our honeymoon in Italy so I guess celebrating our birthdays in Europe is becoming a tradition…one we could get used to it.

November 26 just so happened to also be the opening night of the Wiesbaden Christmas Market so the whole town came out to celebrate with me.

The night started with a special tree lighting ceremony complete with angels in the air, twinkling lights, live Christmas music (sang in English) and Gluhwein served in signature mugs – the first of many for our new collection.

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Spa Weekend

Spa Weekend

If you’re looking for a place to relax and unwind near Wiesbaden, we recommend checking out the Rhein-Main-Therme spa and wellness center. We got to enjoy this thermal bath complex and adjoining hotel as a wedding gift from Ryan’s coworkers.

As soon as we arrived at Vital Hotel Frankfurt, we put on our swimsuits, robes and slippers and kicked off the weekend with Prosecco…the best way to kick off any weekend.

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Our First Month Abroad

Our First Month Abroad

“Welcome to Germany.”

This is what a stranger told me when I asked for help at the Frankfurt train station and couldn’t use Google to find the answer because I didn’t have WiFi…

I never realized how much we millennials depend on our phones, until living in a foreign country with no WiFi. There are just some things we need modern technology for…like finding your way around a new city and posting Insta stories to document your whole life. Sometimes I even find myself scrolling aimlessly through my newsfeed only for Ryan to remind me that I don’t have WiFi. Imagine going a full day without Facebook stalking!

We’ve hit the one month mark of living abroad and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what’s different about living here in Germany.

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Home Sweet Home (Away From Home)

Home Sweet Home (Away From Home)

I know you’ve all been dying to see our home away from home here in Germany (well maybe just our family…but we’re going to show you anyway!). We are quite impressed with our first European flat. It’s clean, quiet, organized, modern, comfortable, and just a short walk to downtown Wiesbaden. You know, where all of the cute cafés are. 😉

It’s always a gamble to sign a lease sight unseen – praying that the place actually looks like the photos. Being catfished by your new home is the worst kind of catfishing.

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Getting Here.

Getting Here.

Moving to Germany had always been on our radar since Ryan’s job brought him here for the first time.

When we got the official approval, it was time to – as we like to say – spring into action.

We shared the exciting news with our family and friends, collected all of the required paperwork, met with the German Consulate in Chicago, found a flat, updated my passport with my new married name (called in a panic to change to expedited processing), booked our flights.

All was going according to plan – until it was two weeks, one week, one day before our scheduled flight – and still no Visas (or passports…they take those when you apply for the Visa). By this point, I was in absolute panic mode. Our flights were already booked, first month’s rent already paid – what were we going to do?

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