I’m Steph, double expat (Germany->UK->US), married to a Brit for a quarter of a century and Mama to two Third Culture Kids (TCKs) plus a goofy Irish Setter and two Siamese mix kitties.
I moved to England in my twenties, met my husband and started a family, and after living in London and Kent for just over a decade, we moved to California. After six years on the West Coast, we opted for some Southern living and spent a year and a half in Austin, TX, before trying life in good old England again. This didn’t quite work out, and we returned to Austin, just over a year later. Almost four years ago, we moved to New Jersey – just like Texas, another place that was never on my original agenda, but shows that life is full of surprises.
One of my baby birds is still in Austin, while the other one decided to return to the other side of the pond, to study in London, leaving me in between. It’s not where I want to stay but I’m trying to make the best of my current home and being a new empty-nester!
I think I was born with a nomadic gene. I remember vividly how excited I was when I first discovered travelling and how I loved to hear about my grandparents’ stories of life abroad. My maternal grandma lived in Paris for a while, while my paternal grandad studied in Edinburgh. Some of my earlier relatives even emigrated to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so I do actually have some distant relatives in my current country of residence!
I have always loved languages and how learning a new language could transport you into a different world. Watching my two children grow up learning two languages from birth and be comfortable in several cultural surroundings is one of my greatest joys.
When we moved to the US in 2010, I finally decided to write about it and started a blog (as you did in those days). I was curious to see how much my perspective and attitude would change over the years while living in and absorbing a new culture. Or actually, cultures, as CA, TX, and NJ are pretty different from each other!
I’ve also experienced reverse culture shock. Moving back to the UK after seven years abroad was a much bigger deal than I had expected and made me confront who I had become and what I wanted from my life. I’m still figuring it out…
You’ll be able to read all about my journey in my memoir.
What I do know after all these years is this: I will always struggle to pacify my nomadic heart and my craving for a physical place of respite at the same time. There is no point in trying to pin my hopes and dreams on just one place. I have many places that I love, and I also have roots in many places. They’ll always be there, but they’re not stopping me from growing a few more along the way.
Places I Love (in no particular order)
15 Random Facts About Me:
- Number 1 on my travel bucket list: New Zealand
- If I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, it would be: potatoes (you can take the girl out of Germany, but…)
- a weird thing I love: the smell of neoprene
- A weird thing I hate: anything pumpkin
- As a teenager, I wanted to be: an actor or artist
- I’m really good at: packing & unpacking
- I’m really bad at: remembering song titles or lyrics even though I love music
- My 6 (no, scratch that, make it 7) dream dinner party guests would be Stephen Fry, Trevor Noah, Esther Perel, Juliette Binoche, Anthony Bourdain, Ethan Hawke and Jane Goodall
- My indoor happy place: the cinema
- My outdoor happy place: a landscape with mountains and trees, and maybe a lake
- I would love to be able to: sing
- My favourite colour: greenish blue
- I’m happiest when: I’m out in nature
- People appreciate me for: my loyalty
- People don’t appreciate my: inability to follow instructions
