Today walking to the post office I was reminded of a scene in the movie L'Auberge Espagnole, where the protagonist first arrives in Barcelona. He has to look at a map, and asks a passerby for directions. Then he says after living in a place you will know the buildings, the streets, you will have lived (made) stories with the people, names that once seemed strange and foreign roll across your tongue, everything "becomes normal and familiar."
I remember sitting at home over the summer, looking at a map of Saarbrücken and thinking "I'm going to be living there..." and finding my address on the map, the nearest post office, looking at how far I was from the Saar River, from my school, from the market square.
Now the names of the streets are familiar to me... I know where the best bakeries are, markets, the houses are familiar... I see some of the same people... it's a great feeling to feel at home in another place. Although then, no matter where you are in the world, you always feel homesick for your second home. There will always be things about the US I miss when I'm in Germany, and there will always be things I will miss about Germany when I am in the US.
Here is the clip I am talking about, the part I mentioned starts 1:40 into the film sequence (sorry, I couldn't find it with English subtitles!).
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