This was a pretty weird article. I understand her frustration in learning the language, I’ve done it before and it’s rough. And I understand her frustration with not having support from the military due to her status, as well as the natural human experience of being far from family and missing home. But those aren’t Germany problems, those are either universal in any place you might move to, or they are the products of her own choices.

It also seems obvious that she brings her North American assumptions with her and is partly disappointed that Germany isn’t more like what she’s used to. She mentions driving, but yeah, it’s expensive to drive in Germany. If she chose a small town to live in that didn’t have good access to transit, that might be necessary, but it’s part of the cost of living there. She mentions big box store shopping, which made me laugh out loud, that’s a very North American perspective and even in the U.S. a lot of people would disagree.

Are there cultures more welcoming than Germany? Probably. My German isn’t great, I’ve definitely been criticized for my accent and lack of vocabulary. It felt harsh, but it was also true, and they weren’t impolite about it. Is it a reasonable expectation to land in a place and get free language lessons and be welcomed with open arms? Not really, and I would note that Americans probably wouldn’t do that either. Heck, in some parts of the country, your welcome would be considerably less polite.