Why "Everyday Fernweh"?

I've always loved the idea of travel. That is something that has always piqued my interest. When I was little, my family would always go on these trips and they were always the highlight of my year. I have always loved going to different places to experience the food, culture, languages, and experiences. I've always had wanderlust, always craved to be somewhere new and experience new things. I've always gotten bored of my surroundings quickly, yearning for the next big adventure. I always moved to a different part of the city hoping it would satisfy my hunger.

Over the last year, reviewing and reflecting on my life, my happiness, my education, and my wants in life, I've started thinking about travel more and more. While I've started to get burnt out with my work, and not enough time to frolic in unique places, I wanted to make sure that my next adventure would last for a while. I had dreams and dreams about moving to Europe. It created the hope that maybe I could leave my family and friends in America and move halfway across the world. So I started researching jobs that require travel and correlated them with my skill set. There was nothing I desired from that. So I started looking at jobs across the world that required my skill set. I applied to a few that piqued my interest but I never heard back from anyone.

After so much schooling and education, while working full time in the healthcare industry, I've decided what is really important and what I would like to do over the next few years. What I would really like to do over the next few years of my life is write about my travels, hardships, packing mistakes, and experiences. There is nothing I would love to do more than this. So that is what my goal is - to start living my life and create new experiences in order to achieve that.

Why “Everyday Fernweh”:

Now you're probably wondering why I named my blog “everyday Fernweh”. That's a great question. After much debate and deliberation between me, myself, and I, plus some ideas from my sister, I decided that the word “fernweh” is a perfect representation of who I am. So let's get into it.

Wanderlust is a noun that describes a strong desire to travel. It is the constant state of travel or the emotional state of wanting to travel. There are many different ways to view this. There are songs written and inspired by wanderlust people, movies made to document the kind of wanderlust travel, and most travel bloggers and writers are probably wanderlust people. Immediately getting back from travel and planning your next destination. Wanderlust.

Fernweh is the German translation of wanderlust. “Fern” means far and “weh” means woe. The literal definition is “far woe” meaning that there are aches and pains from being for exploration of these places. Many use the phrase as sickness or longing for unseen places. Fernweh feels like a deeper meaning than wanderlust. It is also a German word, which plays an important part in why I chose this word for my blog, my brand, my topic of conversation.

Germany was the first country of interest to me. After spending a full week learning everything my little 12-year-old could cram into one brain, I quickly moved my fascination to Italy. I had what some might call an obsession with Italy and Italian culture. Throughout middle school, Italy was my only topic of conversation it felt like. However strong my fascination with Italy I had, I always felt more connected with Germany. Until I got to high school where I realized I would much rather prefer Germany than Italy. (no shade. I am fascinated with both but that's a personal preference.) I can actually see myself living my life in Germany compared to Italy.

Germany was a steady background actor in my life. Always lingering. So when I had the opportunity to go to either Germany or Italy, I did not think about it, Germany was the place I wanted to go. I already learned more German than I anticipated and picked it up much faster than Italian.

Germany also holds a special place in my heart. Germany was the first-ever solo international trip I went on. My first ever trip to Germany was exciting and challenging, proving to be more difficult than anticipated, jumping into deep water. That is where I found self-growth to the extreme and found comfort alone in myself. The trip was not only caused by beautiful architecture and new experiences, it helped me develop a new sense of self and purpose. Without that trip, I wouldn't be here… writing this.