I have no idea how other people perceive me, but I feel quite
well integrated. Back in 1983 when I first came to
Germany as a student in order to learn a bit of the
language, I had no intention of staying for more than 10 months.
In the end I must have liked the experience because I decided to
stay on another year. And then another. After my studies, the
student job magically drifted into full time employment. In 1987
I married a German woman and thought I was happy - at least for
the time being. In the early 90s I had a bit of an early mid-life
crisis and felt I was loosing touch with my roots, my culture,
my heritage and language. I reached out to other ex-pats, mostly
from the UK, and we debated for hours on end about all the pros
and cons of living in Germany, about separating rubbish and red
lights and impolite behaviour, and we all drank far too much
beer in the process. Most of the other ex-pats have left Germany
over the years. After my divorce in 1992 and almost ten years in
Germany I seriously considered moving on to some other country,
to see something else and learn a new language as long as I was
still young and energetic enough. France was on the top of the
list at the time, but today I cannot understand why. Somehow
I managed to come to terms with Germany, or was simply too lazy
to sell off everything, pack my bags, and move on. In 1995 I
did the C2 German language test, not because I needed it, but
just as a sort of challenge. I've always enjoyed learning
languages and still do today. My German will never be perfect,
but I feel very comfortable in almost any situation and enjoy
reading books and newspapers (Die Zeit) in German. Suddenly
and unexpectedly the year 2003 came upon me with the realisation
that I had already spent twenty years in Germany, almost half of
my life. In 2005 I applied for German citizenship, long before
Brexit was a serious issue. Nowadays my entire social and
work-related environment is German speaking and I seldom have
the opportunity or need to speak English. In the mean time I
have remarried and bought a house - and have never felt more
happy and at ease in my life. Now, after nearly forty years
in Germany, I think I would find re-adjusting to life in the
UK very difficult. It's a diffrent country today and I have
changed as well. Oddly enough, my wife has more ties to the
UK than I do, although she is German. So, am I integrated?
