It has been exactly one year since I left my job in New York. I can safely say that I haven't looked back since but that wasn't the original plan. At the time I thought I would embark on a 5 month European adventure. I'd seen a fair amount of the continent but not nearly enough. I started in Glasgow, stayed for a month, moved onto Berlin and didn't leave. It has been a long, convoluted, confusing road through a few other countries and many government offices but now I'm back in Berlin to stay. I've spent more time here than anywhere else in the past year and it's starting to feel like home. I never would have imagined this one year ago.

So let's start on the path that lead here. Glasgow. Oh, dear Glasgow. I'd been there briefly a couple of times before so it's safe to say I knew what I was in for. Glasgow's reputation for violence and seediness is only somewhat deserved and I challenge you to go to make your own judgments. It's definitely worth it. I like big cities. It had art. I had friends there to cushion the blow. I'd traveled Ireland extensively in the years prior and had flirted with living in London and Glasgow had a bit of it all - the history, the clashes, the language (oh, how I miss the language), the story tellers and the nightlife. During my first week the neighborhood I was staying in was named the murder capital of Scotland. I appreciated the welcome. Glasgow is a hard city and that's part of what drew me there. It has the usual problems that most big cities do - unemployment, poverty, immigrants but not integration - but I don't think that it has adequate public programs and government support to improve the living conditions. There is very little safe public space and it's lacking cultural events. It's almost as if all the energy and resources are poured into Edinburgh with its tourist attractions, pretty architecture and its world renowned festival. It's a shame because Glasgow has such history and is constantly evolving and it deserves the same attention, if not more, as its "prettier" neighbor. That said, I've never met more down to earth people than I did in Glasgow. It's the people that make the place and I loved wandering its streets and meeting its characters and being welcomed into their homes. It was a hard place to start but it opened my eyes and so the journey began...