Chase has been living in Germany for over a year, working and taking online classes. Read below and check out her blog on being “Rootless” 
Name: Chase Robbins
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Current City: Munich, Germany
Age: 19
Why did you decide to move abroad?: It was actually a super spontaneous decision, as are most of my actions. I came to Germany for what was supposed to be a 3 week trip to visit Switzerland, Austria, and Slovakia, but I fell in love with Munich and didn’t want to return to my mundane life back in the states.
How did you decide where to move?: The majority of my ancestry comes from Germany, more specifically Bavaria, and I’ve spent my entire life obsessed with the country even though I’d never been there. Since I was 5 I told myself I would live in Germany at some point, so when the opportunity presented itself to live here, I couldn’t miss out.
What was the process you had to go thru to move?: I moved into the house with my backpack intended for 3 weeks of travel. As a minimalist, that was no problem for me, but I still needed to get a visa so that I could stay for longer than 90 days. I had to go to the building for foreigners about 5 times to try to figure everything out, forked over $70, and I was granted access to stay until 2019. It honestly wasn’t very tough nor worth the initial stress.
What’s your favorite thing about living abroad?: Being around a foreign language! It’s so interesting to come from a town where I’ve only heard English,to being surrounded by only German. By living in Germany, I’ve learned a new language and had the opportunity to live and hangout with locals. All of this has helped me better understand how life works across the world.
How did you find a job?: I met a guy who I really got along with and he proposed that I stay with him and his family. His father owns his own business so he employed me so I could get some income and be qualified for a work visa. Now I do some light cleaning in an office building that’s a 5 minute walk from my house 5 times a week.
What do you wish you brought?: My guitar. Lately whenever I’m on a train listening to Jack Johnson or The Dave Matthews Band I daydream of how nice it would be to have my acoustic with me. I couldn’t bring my guitar for lack of space, but when I head to Asia in the spring I’ll be bringing it along. I’m a mediocre singer at best, but singing and strumming is a large part of how I express myself and it melts away my anxiety.
What do you wish you left at home?: Winter clothes. I came to Europe in March where it was still snowing well into May, but now it’s so hot here and I hate having all my space taken up by my big bulky winter jackets. I’ll probably be donating them once I go back to the States, as I don’t need heavy duty winter gear in the Nevada desert.
Any other advice: Learn some of the language before you go. I’m not saying you need to be fluent, but living in a country where you can’t even have basic conversations with locals in their language is ignorant. You are living in their country, so you should put an effort in being able to communicate in the way that they do. It doesn’t matter if you mess up or have a strong accent, locals will really appreciate that you are trying and will offer to help you.
Other comments: When abroad in a country you would be interested in moving to, be social! You never know who you will meet, perhaps they need an employee and or have a place for you to sleep. You never know if you don’t communicate and explain your goals.
You can also follow Chase on Instagram here.