Willkommen to Berlin!

Wow, it’s been a while huh? I havenʼt touched this site in ages, which is a shame because I do like writing. I guess I just don’t feel good enough to publish anything, even a blog. But that’s silly, so new year let’s goooo!

You may (but probably don’t) notice that I’ve spruced up the site. It’s now running on Astro instead of WordPress. I made that decision for various reasons, but also because I wanted to tinker. ;)

Anyway! As you may guess by the title, I live in Berlin now. I have loved this city for years and years, and last year I finally decided it was time to leave my hometown of NYC. It was a very hard choice, but I haven’t regretted it so far. Because of that I have changed the name of this blog, from Echo in NYC to Echo from NYC. NYC will always be a deep part of me, but it also is where I am from and not where I am in life.

Berlin is great. Super queer, much more socially accessible than NYC, and far cheaper. Mind you, it’s still pricey compared to other parts of Germany, but such is the cost of living in a big city. I’ve heard Germans call it ‘not real Germany’, and to be honest that’s probably somewhat accurate. But I’m okay with that!

Unfortunately this new year also finds me unemployed. The tech sector is facing some rough times, and my move to Germany also meant that my role at Automattic was terminated. It was a whole thing, but honestly I don’t mind. It was still the best job I’ve had so far, but it had so many systemic and leadership issues that blew up right after I left it would have happened either way. My only regret was I didn’t get the massive severance offered to people who left after me…

Right now a lot of things are uncertain, but it is unlikely I’ll go back to the USA anytime soon. Things here are scary with the AfD, but compared to what I am hearing out of the USA I am quite happy to remain as long as Berlin will have me.