Sausage and fence

I love objectivity and generally shy away from wrapping something in pink glaze. That's why I thought I'd lay out what I've experienced in the past two months in one of the first posts.

Life is life everywhere.

You have to go to work everywhere, perform, think, do your tasks.

Harsh reality?

Not at all.

The fact that we get equally tired by the end of the day, equally miss things (just different things), equally have to strain ourselves, fills me with a sense of peace. I didn't move away from Hungary, my favorite city Budapest, in hopes of a better life, but sought some kind of self-justification that it's the same everywhere.

Only the surroundings and a few conditions change.

• Here, I work in a great office, which is just a four-minute bike ride from our apartment.
• I'm surrounded by a supportive team.
• I live in a very spacious, almost new apartment.
• If I want to go to the gym, I just have to go to the next door from the office.
• Every evening, after work, I can ride my bike, which I bought on the first day, to my favorite beach to watch the sunset and then go into the water.

However:

• If you work this close, you realize that you've sat in one place for 8-10 hours and only completed 20% of your previously usual daily activity.
• You have to deal with understanding each other daily, considering I'm the only Hungarian and thus there are many cultural and linguistic differences.
• I'm not living alone, which I got very used to in recent years. So I have to adapt, which surprisingly seems easy so far.
• Due to the proximity of the gym, visiting it feels almost mandatory, and after a few times, it becomes endlessly boring.
• And yes, there's really no downside to watching the sunset 😊 Maybe just that wherever you go, you have to face strong elevation differences on this island.

Weekdays here somehow seem more monotonous, but if you have the right means of transportation, you can really explore the island on weekends and act like a tourist.

It's a strange balance, I'd say extreme.

Anyone (or someone) might say to this, "yes, but you have to pay the price for it."

Loneliness? Sure.

Homesickness? Let's not even go there… 🙂

Anxiety? There will probably always be some.

Excitement and new stimuli? Yes, plenty.

As a Hungarian would say:

"The fence is not made of sausage.” which means

‘The grass is not greener on the other side’ or ‘It's not all sunshine and rainbows.’

I've heard this phrase a lot from those who tried their luck abroad. Maybe the picture has been nuanced, they probably meant the price mentioned above.

Is it worth it?

A bit later on that, but if I have to answer now, a definite “Yes!”.