# Introducing Myself and some questions!



## mariavano (Jan 20, 2016)

Hello everyone! I'm an EU citizen (dual US/Italy) and have been boppin' around the EU and my native country for about my whole life I can't seem to stay in one place, hence my new move! I've lived in Italy four times in my life in various cities for a total of about 14 years, along with London and Sicily (yes I consider that a separate country!), and I'm done with Italy -- time for a change, new horizons, new culture, new people.

I've been going back and forth in my mind about where my next "home" is. I pretty much had it down to between Bavaria and France -- I bugged everyone I knew or was simply acquainted with in France and on the France boards here as to their opinions about difference places. After some wonderful advice, I'm beginning to return to my first thought....lower Bavaria.

I've been in the area twice in my life -- once as a teenager when my family visited southern Germany and toured the Black Forest, etc., and again a few months ago when I took a week's vacation in Austria and Germany. I knew only a little about it, but also heard a lot about it from my niece a few years ago when she lived and worked in Garmish for a year. Granted, the only place I went in Germany (due to time) was Mittenwald. I fell in lust with the area...I stayed for three days and only spent half of one day wandering around the cute central tourist part of the town. The rest of the time was wandering around the back roads, etc., seeing what "life" was like for those who lived there.

What hit me the most was not only the people, but the cleanliness, even in the highly touristed areas.

And now my questions! There's just me and two large suitcases in this move, no others, no kids, no pets :-( , no furniture, no car. No, I'm not retired nor rich! I work basically over the internet doing copyediting and proofreading, plus my business ESL teaching is over the phone (with the ability to use Skype calling plan to make said calls to my company students here in Italy). I'm working on snagging more copyediting work, but that's an ongoing thing.

I want smaller cities/towns (Munich far too big for me -- been in enough big cities here in Italy), internationality (something I dearly miss as I've been living in non-internationality for many years here). I want cleanliness...have I mentioned that?...the filth here is horrible. I need affordability in renting an apartment. I don't really want a little tiny studio (unless studios there are large -- here the studios are so small you can barely turn around) so maybe a small one-bedroom. 

No, I don't speak German. I did take a year of it many years ago, and find that there is much I can understand. Well, some. I've seen some great sites for learning it, though, plus I know others who speak it. 

What towns would you recommend for my desires/needs? Oh, without a car, I need to be on a train line. 

Was that enough questions?! I would really love any input from everyone living there and, of course, people living in that area! Once I actually get a town pinpointed, I plan on taking a few-day trip to see what's what, especially if I'm still deciding between a couple. I've been known to move to a new city sight-unseen and hope for the best. I live in Lecco right now, which I consider a large town. I love love love the water, and I know there are some large lakes (and even hot springs and such!) and it's where I'm most at peace.

Enough for now  Thank you to everyone in advance and I look forward to hearing everything! I'm ready to go google-mapping and imaging!

Maria


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