It’s now been almost two weeks since we left our life, spices, house plants, friends and family in Germany behind to move to Silicon Valley (and it still doesn’t feel real).
Here’s a little look at what we got up to in the first week:
DAY ONE
After over a week of farewells (I’m surprised I had any tears left at this point), we said our final goodbyes to Jörg’s family and set off for the baggage drop.
Once we tracked down and removed the errant (and apparently forbidden) lighter that was hiding in one of our bags (”right beside the knife” was the tip they gave us), we went through security and headed straight to the lounge. It wasn’t anything special, but we still felt pretty fancy and I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (or to say no to free food and drinks).
We were lucky enough to fly business class all the way to San Francisco (thanks BMW!). For the 45-minute flight from Dresden to Munich, it felt mostly unnecessary and maybe even a little ridiculous. There were only three of us in business class seats, which on short flights within Germany are really just like regular economy seats but with an empty seat next to you. The flight attendant was so attentive that whenever our glasses (no plastic here) were anywhere close to half full, he would spring into action to fill them up again.
When we landed in Munich, we tracked down some toilets and then rushed over to the lounge (without even checking to make sure our gate existed first). We had less than an hour til boarding but we wanted to make sure that we took full advantage of all that business class had to offer. We certainly won’t be paying for the privilege ourselves any time soon. We quickly grabbed some snacks, drinks and a newspaper and headed to our gate (which thankfully did exist).
Then, it was time for our 13-hour flight in the business class pods! I’m sorry to report that it really was that good. The food was delicious, the service was impeccable and the leg room was out of this world. We’re officially ruined for all future flights.
Once we arrived, we picked up our massive rental car, drove to Mountain View and checked into our temporary apartment — we can hold our phones up to the doors here to unlock them. It feels very Silicon Valley.
DAY TWO
We woke up to a beautiful day (or because of our jet lag…we woke up and then 4 hours later it was a beautiful day) so we decided to drive to Santa Cruz to take full advantage of the amazing weather (thanks for the tip MK). It was absolutely stunning. It honestly ruined Mountain View for us because nothing compares.
DAYS THREE TO FIVE
The next few days were a bit of a blur. We mostly took care of lots of admin and started exploring different neighbourhoods, trying to figure out where we’d actually want to live. The area our temporary apartment is in is convenient because it’s right by Target, Walmart, Whole Foods and Trader Joes (we’re living the ‘merican dream), but it’s very car-centric and not particularly nice either. We’re looking for something greener and more walkable that’s not too far away from downtown or Jörg’s work.
Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto are all potential options for us. All of the cities kind of run into each other without any clear boundaries or marked differences, but they at least have small downtown areas that we were able to explore (we live in the suburbs now). We liked Mountain View the best, but we were also open to Sunnyvale. Los Altos is a little too isolated and Palo Alto is too expensive for what you get (and also pretty fancy, we’ve never seen a bougier mall).
It was an overwhelming time and we were feeling pretty unsettled, but just as we were starting to stress about how hard it will be to meet people here, we met some! And at the Social Security Administration Office no less. As we were waiting for Jörg’s name (aka “…George”) to be called, two people sat down beside him and started speaking German amongst themselves. Jörg didn’t realize and he didn’t read my German-alert-text (rude), but as we were walking out, we ran into one of them again and struck up a conversation.
DAY SIX
On Saturday, we went out for Mexican food with our new German friends and did our first round of house tours. Dinner was lovely. The house tours were not.
We knew that the cost of living here was really high, but we were still not prepared for how little you get for $5000-$6000 a month. The first place was okay I guess but it was small, dark and not in the best condition. The second place (which had a line up of people out the door to come see it) was an entirely different story. It was tiny and straight up dirty, plus there was obvious structural damage in one of the bedrooms. Not to mention the literal mouse shit in the closets. They found someone to take it within 24 hours. We passed on both places in hopes that there would be better options out there. The mood was low. We spiraled and asked ourselves “what have we done?”.
DAY SEVEN
We looked at another couple of places on Sunday. The second one was nothing to write home about but the first one was in a really nice location and had a beautiful yard with an actual giant fruit-baring citrus tree (!!!). Even though it was not in the best condition (old electric coil burners), given our experience the day before, we still decided to apply for it. We’re still waiting to hear back, but we’re not too optimistic about our chances since there were about 30 other couples and families there looking at it at the same time as us (real Munich Massenbesichtigung vibes).
Tune in next week to find out if we got the place and to hear about Jörg’s first week at work. No but seriously, we’re going to try and keep sharing little updates as we go but no promises on the schedule or consistency. Hopefully soon, I simply won’t have the time due to my booming social life.
Hab mir das extra für euch runtergeladen- macht mich also richtig neidisch people, damit sich das auch lohnt 😂😂😂
ERIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!