One Year of Living in Munich.

Today completes my one year of being away from Toronto and home, and living in Munich. It feels a little surreal, like it all just happened yesterday. The day I landed, my first walk on the cobblestones, my first lunch in Munich which was an amazing four cheese pizza, my first night away from Toronto and family - it was a mix of excitement and sadness. After one year, It feels good...to know that I was able to manage life independently for an entire year. Of course, with tons of help from the hubby. Before this move, I had never stayed away from my family, so it was quite a big deal to leave them all behind and move across oceans. After living 25 years of my life with them, I finally moved out....of the continent. And it would not be wrong to say that it was very difficult. I was scared as hell, nervous and anxious. 

After a year, I'm much less nervous and anxious, and not scared at all. I've also learned quite a few things. I've learned....

• that staying in your comfort zone means you miss out on some of the greatest things in life. 
• that sometimes in life, you need to take a leap of faith and do things you would've never thought to do. 
• that google translate is a pretty damn awesome means of communicating with a technician who's trying to fix your dishwasher. 
• that I can only have sushi as a snack food, not a proper meal. 
• that no matter where in the world I am, whether in a gorgeous resort in Mauritius or at the top of the Eiffel Tower, a piece of my heart will always be where my mama and papa are. 
• that I am not a big fan of Ethiopian food.
• that some German songs can actually be catchy! refer to song: augenbling - seeed. 
• that life in Europe is pretty sweet. 
• that Thai food has now become my favourite, replacing Italian. (which had always been my numero uno)
• that the best pizzas in the world are in Europe. I don't know if I can ever go back to Pizza Pizza. 
• that life is all about trying new things and welcoming change with open arms.
• that growing up can be fun and that growing up doesn't mean letting go of my childlike personality. 
• that Germans use a bajillion forms of "the" - der, die, das, den, dem...
• that living in a country which doesn't speak your language can actually be....fun at times. 
• that North Americans need to stop racing against time, and have a coffee and cake break. 
• that you may think something looks impossible, and that you're not capable of doing it, but once you make up your mind for it and take the plunge, things fall into place. It all works out. You can do whatever it is you want to do. 
• that I absolutely, absolutely do not like reading maps. 
• that my husband is one of the most amazing and inspiring people I know. 
• that I can be a pretty awesome wife ;)

It was my one year of being a wife on June 3rd! Crazy, crazy...I still sometimes have to take a moment and think in my head 'what, I'm actually married?!!'. I still remember the pre-wedding days and the chaos. So many things to take care of, so many emotions. I still miss it actually, and I still sometimes read wedding blogs. Can't believe it's been a year!

Anyway, figured I'd pick one picture from each month of my past year in Europe. So here goes:

June

Edinburgh, Scotland. Umair surprised me with this trip for my birthday last June.  This cafe is where JK Rowling first got her idea of writing Harry Potter, while overlooking the Edinburgh Castle!

July

In Prague with my lovely sisters who came to Europe for 2 weeks.

August

Brussels. Took a week long trip to Paris and Brussels end of  August.

September

My first Oktoberfest in Munich! Dirndl shopping was fun! We went quite a few times to Oktoberfest because I loved the rides! My favourite was the 5 360degrees loop rollercoaster, went on it 3 times.

October

Back in Toronto!

November

Day trip to Regenzburg - a small medieval town an hour from Munich. We were on detox diet during November and it  was probably the most difficult month for me! 

December

Christmas Markets! So fun, they go for a whole month and we went there about 4-5 times during the month.  Also visited the Christmas markets in Nuremberg, they're huge!  But the Christmas holidays were spent mostly catching up with Breaking Bad. 

January

Parasailing in Mauritius! Definitely one of the top highlights of this past year. I was absolutely freaked before going, but once we were up in the air, I felt like a bird :) Mauritius was lovely and so was our 2 day stay in Dubai before Mauritius!

February

London for 4 days! It was cold and rainy the whole time...

March

Cafes around our area. March was mostly spent with me trying to find things to do, play around with my new camera while Umair worked, worked and worked some more on every weekend of the month.

April

In Venice! Finally Umair took a break from work and we took a trip to Italy! 

May

Took a road trip to Berlin for a weekend. Berlin is the city of bears!

That's it folks!