Category: Family Relocation Stress
-
Why the First 90 Days After an International Move Aren’t Easy
The first three months after moving abroad… yeah, they can be really hard. Not chaotic, not disastrous. Just heavier than you expected. You might wake up feeling off. Your child, who was so excited for this move, now refuses school. Small tasks that used to take five minutes suddenly take an hour. And you wonder:…
-
My First Month in Germany: 5 Lessons I Learnt the Hard Way
Updated by Tara on 09 February, 2026 My first month in Germany remains as vivid as ever in my mind. Our excitement of arriving in our new city with my little daughter. Delicious smells of the bakeries everywhere. The newness of everything. But that excitement didn’t last long. Within days of our arrival, my excitement…
-
How to Register Your Address in Germany: Step-by-Step Guide
Registering your address in Germany: what is it? The rumours are true: moving to Germany includes a lot of bureaucracy. One of the first things you’ll have to manage after arriving is to register your address in Germany (Anmeldung). This is more than just a formality. Your Anmeldung will allow you to open a bank…
-
The Frustrating Truth: Professional Registration in Germany
Professional Registration in Germany is required for a lot of professions. For many you you cannot work until you’ve received your professional registration from the local authority responsible for your field of work. I n my last post about qualification recognition in Germany, I outlined the difference between regulated and unregulated professions and shared my…
-
Australian passport overseas for kids: How to apply
Does your baby or child need an Australian Passport overseas? If navigating bureaucracy is your idea of hell, you’ve found the right place! After living in Germany for four years, I’m a master at beating bureaucracy and surfing wave after wave of pointless paperwork. Let’s dive into how to get your foreign-born baby an Australian…
-
How To Get Your Qualifications Recognised In Germany
Searching for work in Germany has probably already made you realise something: qualification recognition is almost definitely going to be a part of your life in Germany. How do yours stack up? Will they be accepted? Do you need to complete further training? Despite Germany’s lack of qualified professionals, there is still unfortunately a stringent…
-
Australian Citizenship by Descent: What you need to know
When I gave birth to my second daughter in Germany, I was determined that she too would be an Australian citizen. Suddenly, it seemed that the most valuable thing I could give her was access to my home country, language and culture. Maybe it was all the hormones. Regardless of the reason, I fell down…
-
What you need to know about Driving in Germany
Are you dreaming about speeding down the Autobahn in Germany, but unsure if you’re even allowed to drive here? I spent my first months in Germany trawling through Reddit and Facebook groups to figure out the specifics about if I could drive with my Australian driver’s license and how to exchange it for a German…
-
Why living abroad sucks (and how to overcome it)
Living abroad is the worst. It’s not fun. It’s not glamorous and it is most definitely not always Instagrammable. But weirdly, it gets better. Read on for the top three reasons living abroad is the worst and how I’ve overcome them. If you take away only one thing from this post, it should be this:…
-
Parents get homesick too! 7 Tips to overcome homesickness
It’s the most wonderful time of the year but I just cannot be bothered! I’m cranky. The Christmas carols sound weird in German. The food is too heavy. The weather is terrible! Am I a Grinch? No. I just really miss my Christmas traditions. I’m a homesick parent abroad, doing my best to give my kids the…
