Yesterday I turned 27, officially joining the “upper 20s” club! It’s funny to think back on how I once believed people at this age had everything figured out. I also imagined I’d be a mother by now and certainly never thought I’d be living in Europe.
Reflecting on the past year, I’m amazed by the experiences I’ve had and the things I’ve accomplished. I checked off the number one item on my bucket list: hot air ballooning in Cappadocia. I visited six new countries, hosted nine visitors, stood by four of my beautiful friends on their wedding days, joined one of those brides on part of her honeymoon in Greece, prioritized my health, earned an “Exceeds Expectations” on my performance review, and made countless memories in Brussels.
Birthdays have always been significant for me, thanks to my mom, who always went above and beyond to make them special growing up (we’re talking ponies, water parks, camping, crowns, karaoke, etc.).
A picture of me on my 1st birthday….and we wonder why I am extra lol
Ben continues this tradition, and thanks to him I had an incredible birthday weekend! In our friend group here, three of us have birthdays in the same week. On Friday night, we celebrated at a Middle Eastern restaurant that serves food family style and turns into a party after 9 pm. Saturday was perfect: Ben and I went out to brunch, visited the farmers market, took a walk in my favorite park with Mallow, and he made me a southern meal with an adorable printed menu!
BBQ food is hard to find in Brussels, so he made his own BBQ sauce and found a butcher to get pork for slow cooking on the grill all afternoon. On Sunday, we visited Pairi Daiza, known as “Europe’s Best Zoo.” It was a unique experience, feeling like we were truly walking through the animals’ habitats rather than seeing them behind cages. A lemur almost jumped on my shoulder! My favorite animals were the elephants and the giant pandas. We ended the day with our favorite animal, Mallow.
I’m so grateful for the friends who celebrated with me, everyone who texted or called, and especially my husband for his thoughtfulness and efforts to make the weekend special. We’ve now celebrated (at least) one of each holiday here, just the two of us, and he always makes it memorable. Despite my worries about feeling homesick, I felt all the love and support from everyone important to me. Plus, I have visitors coming this week that I’m VERY excited about!
May and June were incredibly busy with work and personal travel. I spent a week in Italy for work in May with our Senior Leadership Program, then took a personal trip to NYC/NJ for a family wedding, road-tripped to Virginia to see my mom, grandma, and auntie, and then flew back to Chicago for another wedding! After returning, I went straight back to work and four days later left for a week in Sweden with our European Master Program.
There’s no slowing down in July either. (Are we shocked?) Two of my high school best friends (Alex and Sam) arrive this week, and we’re heading to Austria for a long weekend – Sound of Music tour, here we come! The following weekend, my friend Marisa and I will meet in Milan for Taylor Swift’s ERAS TOUR!!!! We’ll also take a day trip to the famous Lake Como. A few days after that, my cousin Sarah and her husband arrive, and we’re going to Amsterdam for the weekend. Although I don’t typically repeat cities, Amsterdam is one of my favorites and only a 2.5-hour car ride away! It will be both of their first times in Europe, and I am so excited to show them where we live. Then, the weekend after that, I’m going to Tomorrowland, one of the world’s largest and most exclusive electronic dance music festivals, which I somehow managed to get tickets to. Finally, my mother-in-law comes to visit the day after and I’m looking forward to the quality time together.
With so much happening in the world—the ongoing war in Ukraine, the crisis in Palestine, the uncertainty in America with the upcoming election— I acknowledge the privilege of such experiences and express my empathy towards those facing hardship. I make it my goal to never take any day of this life for granted. Thankful thankful thankful!
Today marks ONE YEAR of living in Europe, 4,000+ miles away from home. Can you believe it?! It has been a whirlwind for Ben and I…with new jobs, global friendships, hosting 16 visitors, and exploring 12 countries (8 of them brand new!). This year brought personal growth, adventures, and challenges – and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
The Highlights
Obviously, the reason for this international move was for my job. I have had three roles with Komatsu so far, and this one is definitely my favorite! In my recent performance review, my manager mentioned that I have assimilated extremely well into the work culture and have formed relationships at all levels of the organization. She even said that I was exactly what the HR team here needed!
As the HR projects supervisor, I am the European liaison from headquarters to all European entities for HR related topics (Germany, Italy, Sweden, etc.) I have been able to work on some exciting initiatives…from creation to implementation to evaluation. Having a project-based role is right up my alley. In 2024, I will have business trips to our facilities in Sweden and Italy too!
We hosted a “Family Day” back in March on a Saturday. I normally dress more in business attire during the week
Another major highlight is that we have an established community of friends here. I knew that it was really important for Ben and I to find this because we are both super social people who love to host. Because Brussels is such an international city, we have made friends from all over the world, which has brought new insight and unique experiences. We have made friends through work, hockey, and expat groups on Facebook! I am so thankful for these people who we get to celebrate birthdays and holidays with, plan trips with, and have been such a support system during our time here.
Celebrating Thanksgiving together!
Vacation (referred to as holiday) time is extensive, and I am taking advantage of that! Not only that, but it is encouraged at work that you take your time off…even multiple weeks in a row. The famous question “Are you living to work or working to live?” really resonates here. In my experience, the American dream drives Americans to live to work, whereas Europeans are working to live.
And the best highlight…being able to travel at a level I have never before experienced (and will probably never experience again). In 2023, I flew 44,388 miles on 30 flights. That is 1.8x around the world! We spent our first wedding anniversary in Paris, saw the famous tulips at Keukenhof in The Netherlands with my sister, stayed in a villa in the French Riviera with my dad, visited Prague with my mom, went to a music festival in Budapest with a friend from college, went on the “World’s Best Hot Air Balloon Ride” in Turkey with Ben, stayed in a honeymoon suite in Santorini next door to our best friends on their honeymoon, went to Germany for famous Christmas markets with Ben’s family, and so much more!! It sounds like I am making all of this stuff up…I seriously think that when we tell our future children about this life that we lived, they won’t believe us!
The hardest parts
I have received SO much encouragement and excitement from family, friends, acquaintances…even people I haven’t talked to in years. I love getting to share this journey with everyone, but I don’t want it to seem through the lens of social media that everything is perfect. It is easy for everything to appear like sunshine and rainbows, but there are clouds and storms (literally because it rains 200 days per year here!!!).
The most difficult part of this entire experience was trying to focus on living my life here while being away from my life back home. For example, being away from our families during the holidays, missing my childhood best friend experience her first pregnancy, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, baby showers, birthdays, family dinners…people’s lives keep continuing and I’m watching them from a far. There are also so many events I will miss in 2024 and I know I will struggle with that. On the other hand, our family and friends have been SO intentional with planning to FaceTime, sending us letters in the mail, and encouraging us above and beyond. To my people, you know who you are, I love you!!! Thank you for your support.
The second most difficult thing was not having air conditioning. This is such an “American” comment but let me tell you…it SUCKED. There was a 10-day period in July/August where it was above 85 degrees Fahrenheit every day. Ben was back home in Chicago and Mallow and I were so overheated. It resulted in her not eating and me having an actual heat stroke. I finally decided to check us into a hotel for one night so just we could reset. She immediately ate 3 bowls of her food and I started to feel better. All my friends were teasing me for not being able to withstand the heat, but I had no shame! I needed to feel the A/C again LOL.
Mallow at the hotel…naturally she had to bring her frisbee
Another difficult adjustment was living in a country that is sooooo different from my own. Being around people that speak in foreign languages and navigating a completely different culture can be a challenge. For example, the workplace culture is completely different (& I experienced my first ever conflict in the workplace!), the currency is euros, we drive in kilometers, discuss the weather in Celsius, must use our translator app when shopping for groceries, etc. I even got a bridesmaid’s dress tailored by a woman who spoke only French! Every day I’m outside of my comfort zone. Most of the time I can handle it but sometimes things feel overwhelming.
Another battle was the neighborhood we lived in for the last 11 months. We thought we could handle the city center, but it turned out that after surviving an attempted mugging (thanks to Ben’s quick reflexes and my fight/flight response he didn’t get our jewelry), our building being broken into resulting in my favorite blue bike being stolen, and the constant crowds of people…that the city center was not for us. We have just moved (only 3 miles away) to a new neighborhood into the most beautiful apartment! We are so excited for this change and thankful to my company for being accommodating.
Some other funny “challenges” we’ve experienced…one of the hockey teams in the league Ben plays in filed a complaint against Ben. They were inquiring to see if we moved here for his hockey career LOL (because he is the #1-point scorer on his team, humble brag), so we had to provide our work contracts to prove hockey is just an extracurricular. North American hockey is at a completely different level than European hockey, so Ben has been targeted during games. It isn’t fun to watch your husband get slammed up against the boards, and I am now making him wear a cage to protect his face. I just think this is so funny because if we were to move for his hockey career, why do they think we would choose Belgium???
Go #16!!!
Lastly, our challenges in America (political, social, and economic) have undoubtedly tainted the reputation of the United States. For many, they view the US as somewhere they still want to visit but not necessarily live. I take a lot of heat about America…people are always making comments about how I should be use to mass shootings, how the food is so unhealthy there, or how our Presidents are a joke (they’re not wrong). I can handle it for the most part, but sometimes it gets to me. I have to realize that I can’t defend an entire country.
What I’ve learned
I’ve learned that I am adaptable and can handle change. As someone who typically fears changes and struggles with anxiety, this is exciting progress!
My perspective has changed about sooo many things and I’ve learned more about the world and myself more than ever before. I am changing and growing and figuring out who I am and what I like. Part of that is what your 20s are for, but it is definitely intensified in my current situation.
For example, I definitely don’t want to live in the middle of a city. But I don’t think living in the suburbs is for me either. I think I’d like a balance where we could drive/park and have a backyard but also be able to walk to dinner or some grocery stores/markets. Anyone have any recommendations?
I’ve learned more about sustainability, extreme consumerism in America, what’s in our food and how we should treat our bodies, etc. For example, this past year I have shopped less than I ever have. I now only buy things that “speak to me”, whereas back home I would have an Amazon package showing up on my porch every other day…yikes.
Conclusion
I am the first, youngest, and female expat in a male-dominated organization to have an international assignment in Europe. There are not enough words that could ever express this experience. I’ve felt every emotion this year. Happiness, sadness, excitement, frustration, overwhelmed, pure joy…you name it, I’ve felt it. But the thought of leaving here makes me so sad…so I’m going to make this last year count!!!
Life with Liv 