Isn’t that what every blog is telling you to do right now? It sounds fun right? Take off, leave responsibility behind. Live in Rome and be a digital nomad! 

So I did. Sort of.

I quit my job people. I was kind of planning this career change. It’s not actually a romantic fairytale. It’s a difficult decision mulled over 20 million times with lost sleep and just over 2 months of money saved up. Plus I am a nurse (jobs can be found). 

And I am in Europe. Alone for 2 weeks. I’m pretty sure this time last year I said to myself 1 week is about how long I want to be away from my husband. It’s been 10 days. I definitely miss him. We’ll meet up here in a few days.

In the Guest House

I’m staying in a guest house apartment. The building has 7 floors of rooms. Well, the seventh floor has just one apartment and a door to the roof. I am in that apartment. It’s nothing fancy, unless of course you compare it to the other rooms. The other floors share kitchens and bathrooms. 

I’ve been friendly with the other people here. They are all international students from Japan, Korea, Ghana, Iran, and more. We are all taking German classes. Some people are taking German and studying at a university. I met a few people who are getting their PhD. They need the German to teach. 

Today I went with three girls from Japan to eat Indian food and buy stamps. I don’t know Japanese and they don’t know English, so we talked in our ein bisshion German. We ordered all of our food in German. And I even asked for it to be scharf (spicy). The girls showed me where the Euro store was (like the dollar store). I bought a souvenir mug for my kid for €1 and razors, because I forgot to bring those. 

During our break from class, there is a guy who pulls up in a car and sells sandwiches to the students for €1,50 and up. It is pretty cheap. In the morning, I have coffee and a small breakfast and do my hausaufgabe (homework).

 It’s not quite like vacation. I have class until 1. I have to make food, do laundry, and buy groceries. But it’s an adventure because I can’t read all of the words. I don’t know the difference between rahmjogurt and fruchquark at the store, so I buy one of each and try it. I find new streets to walk down. New places to visit. 

I really like meeting new people. And I like practicing my German. Yesterday the German ticket sales person thought I was Italian. So I guess I don’t have an American accent. But I am really starting to miss my husband. I don’t think I could stay away from him longer than 2 weeks.

Tchuss!