Que 20 años no es nada
"That twenty years is nothing". So the lyrics of the tango "Volver" by Carlos Gardel.
Today it is 20 years since I came to Germany to study architecture for two semesters. And I still don´t know, if twenty years are nothing or are much. In a way it seems incredible that so much time has gone by and I still keep a bit of that feeling of newness: the city, the people, the language, the schedules at the Aka... everything was new and exciting and, in a way, it still is. Looking from that perspective I have to say Gardel is right: twenty years is nothing.
But then if I think about how my life has changed in those 20 years. How even I have changed. Then twenty years is a lot. Since I came here I have:
- graduated as an architect
- quit being an architect
- made my dream job true and become an illustrator
- learnt two new languages
- visited other continents
- met so many good friends in this corner of the world
- become an aunt to two wonderful girls
- moved four times
- bought and renovated a 70 year old apartment
- extended to four the number of places I call home
- entered a new family
- been sharing my life with the best partner I could possibly imagine
Just to mention some of the best things that happened in these last years. I could have never imagined what was in the luggage as I came with my backpack to Stuttgart. But my mother guessed something, because although I was leaving for only nine months, at the airport in Biarritz, as we were saying good bye, she kissed me and said "you are not coming back".
So, the big lesson I got from this is that you never know what is coming next in life. I am so thankful for these 20 years and all the good things they have brought to me! And to celebrate it I have reduced by 15% the prices of all items on my RedBubble shop*. Come and celebrate with me!
* till 30th of September