[reflections] struggles of being an expat, possible solutions 

Grüß Gott, actually it just takes time to get used to new things. 大半年前我刚到德国，也是很迷茫的时候偶然之间关注到了你原来的那个号。感觉你很有想法，而且英文真的讲得很好听，于是就挖出你的小号一并关注了。 我在新加坡上了初中高中，也是以为自己已经适应了新的语言，具备了一定的语言学习能力，然而在德语的学习路上也是有许多坎坷。有些技能技巧的确是可以举一反三，然而想让它变成自己的一部分，更多还是需要时间的积淀和积累。 希望你别着急，别放弃。录视频如你所说，也是一种帮自己理清头绪很好的方式。 德语并不可怕，和英语一样，在生活中只要多用，慢慢就会习惯这个语言的。虽说我在新加坡就已经开始学习德语了，然而初到德国的几个月，真的是收获无穷。现在虽说不是完全达到了沟通毫无障碍的地步，但至少表达自己的思想别人很容易就能理解。况且，我还没太好的语言天赋。 谈到交际，地球上最不缺人。德国也不缺啊！稍微有点耐心，慢慢去尝试，总会遇见耐心善良的本地人乐意于和你分享他们的生活的。不知道你现在是什么身份，如果有机会的话可以尝试去小一点的城镇生活一阵子。圈子小，节奏慢，大家就更容易走到对方的心里去。 如果你需要更多精神上的支持和交流，可以通过微信公众号“咱们谈什么”联系到我。虽然我都给自己设计好了RU-vid channel，然而还是选择了继续用文字和大家分享。 共勉！ Viele Grüße Dave

You’re a brave girl. From US to Germany. This video gives me some feeling about you always put yourself so hard . You know , sometimes people think they don’t good enough and then start slowly getting their goals higher and higher until they didn’t realize how high it was. So, be yourself. Enjoy yourself.

true. this is life.... hang on there...

One of your most honest, and inspirational videos ever! 👍

Next year I’m going on exchange to Shanghai for one year. The main point I find interesting is, to keep in mind that it will not always go as easy as you think. I know there are a lot of expats in shanghai but I don't want to live in that bubble of only foreigners. I'm already learning the Chinese so I can make local friends more easily. Love your video and stay positive.

It ain’t easy to spit out what’s on the bottom of ur heart. U r brave. U r smart. We proud of u.

update please

Couldn't relate more. I came to Toronto on exchange last September, and finally found my feet, after all the depression, anxiety, loneliness and self-consciousness. I figure we made our decisions, be responsible for them, adjust to the new environment actively and carry on with our journeys. Fingers crossed.

Internet friends/stalkers will always be here for you Cecelia❤️

Know exactly how you feel. You were pretty successful in US, and it's remarkable that you stepped out of your comfort zone to chase new opportunities at Germany. But man, start over from scratch is tough! Hope you hang in there, the best is yet to come.

大半夜睡不着看到姐姐更新视频实在是倍感意外又很开心！姐姐加油！！！！

Moin! So great to hear from you again, especially with an honest and helpful video like this one. Please don't refrain from vlogging just because you feel like there is not enough progress in your life (if that was one of the reasons for you not to do it). Your experience is perfectly normal and definitely something almost everyone will experience. That's why sharing this is so important, it helps people to prepare, to understand and feel encouraged in their own struggles. Deutschland ist natürlich ein besonders hartes Pflaster, mit dem Fokus auf die deutsche Sprache (schwerer als z.B. Englisch), seinen engen sozialen Zirkeln und den etwas schroffen Umgangsformen. Ich wünsch Dir viel Kraft und vor allem Spaß.

You are so strong... inspiring.

really happy to watch your video again, cheers up Cecilia

Wow such wise words. Incredibly insightful. You are really showing how you have matured from this experience.

:( Sounds quite tough... I feel like I've been pretty lucky myself, even though I got to admit I didn't bond much with locals while abroad. After getting home, most of the friends I stay in touch with are foreigners, travellers, expats just like me. And I can definitely relate to missing some jokes or funny remarks at a game night with locals/native speakers. The lucky part I guess was adapting quite quickly and not feeling out of place. I love being an outsider and feel this (for me) small challenge everyday. Anyho! Good luck to you, and if I may suggest something to meet more locals, it would be to look for language exchange partners. I made a few local good friends this way :)

When I hear you (or other expats) I always think, you are the type of persons, that will create a better world with less prejudice and more understanding (or at least accepting) of different cultures. You and many other expats moved from being chinese, american, german to being simply "human". Most of you became a lot more mature than the average of your age group. The rest went back home. And most of you are sharing exactly the same problems. Unfortunately there are no easy solutions, you have to invest time to build yourself a new "home" and that is harder than at the college because now everybody already "was here" and you are the "new one". What helped me was to join clubs (=Vereine in Deutschland) with like minded people. Language in my opinion in this regard is a lesser problem, because with your education you will probably tend to people that speak at least some english. But please remember one thing: You (and many other expats) chose a hard way but you already achieved more than Mr. Average ever will. Your problem seems to be, that you expect very much from yourself, maybe sometimes a little bit too much?

Crying . Keep following your vlog , Hope all is well with you . God bless .

虽然目前还没出过远门，但是一个人出门在外肯定是很难的， 但是要好好照顾自己，加油！❤️

I have been already in Germany for two years. I think I’m already used to the life and the environment. But I do agree with you on that you can only make friends with who have the same Hobbies or some similarities with you. And you don’t need to push yourself so hard. All will be fine. So endlich hoffe ich, dass alles bei dir reibungslos geht. Ich wohne nun in München und wenn du Lust hat, kannst du hier mal reisen und ich würde dir gerne etwas zeigen. Auch kann ich auch dir einige Tipps beim Deutschlernen geben könnte.

扎心，每一句都戳中我了，泪目

Wow you are a truly "civilized" person you know the predestination/fate stuff

Knowing your path over the last years you will also make it in Germany. It is the one most difficult country for foreigners to fit in. No wonder you experienced all of this.

Germany is a difficult place to live if you weren't born there.

Haven't seen ur post for a while, miss u. We are not far away if u r still in De

i related with your struggle in communicate, i suffer with something similar, knowing about a topic and not be able to talk about, but the struggle that i have happens with people of the same country as i am, people that speak the same language as i

Ich wünsche dir noch alles Gute für dein Leben hier in Deutschland. Kopf Hoch!

German is much harder than English, grammar wise. Havent seen you for quite a while. Good luck! BTW I love German.

Cecilia, you look older than when you were in Chanel C, and more sophisticated!!! Jiayou!!

omg im crying T T

Dear Cecilia, how are you ? It's been long time

add oil, take care

Still have a boyfriend?

一看就是两广或福建人，哈哈，祝好运顺心。