Spring in Berlin: A Video and A Love Letter

I try to take a couple seconds of video footage on my phone every day. I’ve been doing this on and off for a few years. My intention is always to compile the footage on the 1 Second Everyday app, but I don’t get around to it consistently.

Last week though, I was feeling inspired to do something a little more complicated with all the snippets of life in Berlin that I’ve filmed since March. The result is this short video, which I hope will appeal to the visual learners among you. There are several shots in and around our apartment, but there are also snippets we filmed in other places around the city. And the beach footage is from a trip we took to the Baltic Sea two weekends ago.

While I was editing this video, I realized the subject I film most often is my husband. This isn’t too surprising, but it did remind me how grateful I am to be here with him.

It regularly surprises me that not everyone would want this life. Before we left Boston our friends and family were supportive of our decision, but several of them also admitted they would never want to move abroad. And I recently got this feedback on my book from a friend: “You make travel seem very accessible… I feel like I could get up and go to Barcelona or Berlin or London or Copenhagen on a whim.” I was flattered, obviously, but I also thought… “everyone doesn’t feel that way already?” And, of course, logically I know everyone doesn’t feel that way. Travel is inaccessible to many people for a variety of reasons and moving abroad isn’t the right life choice for everyone. In addition to the external factors that shape our lives, we all have different interests, goals, and priorities.

It just makes me especially thankful to have found a man who shares so many of mine.

E had only been to Europe once before we made this move: a week-long vacation to Barcelona. He moved to Berlin with me having never visited the city before. It takes a special kind of person to take a leap like that.