My experience living in Europe

In 1987 my father was an active military member of the Venezuelan Army, and he was designated to study for two years abroad in Germany. So in that year my family moved to Germany the first year we lived in a little towncalled Hürt, then another year in the city of Hamburg.

This was a very exciting experience for the whole family, I was 10 years old and my brother 8, Hürt was a typical German town, It was an ideal view, very quiet, a few days after arriving, my brother Rafa and I started school, I went to middle school and he went to primary school. It was a big cultural shock, at first we did not have any friends, we had german, english and french classes. Thanks God a few weeks after, arrived to the same town a brazilian family and a Bolivian family, and both families had girls my age, so those girls Monica (Brazil) and Veruska (Bolivia) became my best friend in tha magnificient adventure of living abroad.

I had some roughe moments in school due the racism and xenofobia, but mostly because turkish kids had so much envy of us. Thanks to my good friends we supported eachother and could overcome those moments.

However, most of the memories I keep are beatiful, I remenber specially the change of seasons, seeing and playing with the snow for the first time was a dream come true, the four seasons, all have their charm, I loved the summer, especially the long days; in the spring all blooming and the fall to see the change of color of the leaves were a spectacular.

The trips we made trough Europe were another breathtaking experiences, they were truly unforgettable, traveling in Europe does not cost more than putting gas in your car, packing some few suitcases and go.

I loved all those countries, two years were not enough, we missed visiting England and Eastern Europe. However, I´m very gratefull for having visited Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland and Denmark, as well as knowing many cities and towns in Germany that are worth seeing again. We went to the Vatican, the Eifell Tower, the Pizza Tower, Louvre Museun, Coliseum and son on.

Living abroad changed me and the way I see live, it made me cherich my country and my family, but definitely an experince that is worth living. I hope I could give my children the same oportunity, to experience another culture and learn another language.

The pictures were taken by my parents between the years 1987 and 1989.

Katty