A message from the Editor
Dear Readers,
If you told me how much my life would change in the course of a year, I wouldn’t have believed you. Oh, how it changed … and what a wonderfully hectic adventure it became. At my 20-year high school reunion, I reconnected with a nice guy who’d joined the Air Force and moved away not long after we graduated. The months following the reunion, while he served two downrange TDYs, we contacted each other sporadically through email and Facebook. After he returned home, our seldom comments and messages grew into marathon phone conversations then visits to each other’s state. Our comfortable, distant friendship became a long distance romance. Then Life happened. A year after the reunion and just when the relationship changed, he received orders for a four-year tour to Ramstein Air Base, Germany and would leave in five months. As the news sank in, we sat looking at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. Finally, half joking (and secretly hopeful), he said, “Well, I guess we could get married …” I paused, raised my eyebrows and replied, “Well, I’ve never been to Vegas …”
So, here we are … with a whirlwind wedding and worldwide move under our belts, we now live in a small German village a few miles from base and what seems like a million miles from where we started not quite two years ago. Living in Europe truly IS amazing, once you complete the overwhelmingly daunting task of an international military move. Paperwork. Passports. Health checks. Paperwork. Packing. Shipping. Paperwork. Long flights. Find a house. Did I mention paperwork. Sign a contract. Sign another. Get a car. License. Job. Paperwork. Learn the language, or at least enough to translate utility bills. Paperwork, in another language. Uh, wait, what does that say? This is HOW much? WHAT? ARGH!!
That’s exactly why I’m proud to be a part of Stars and Stripes’ special publication, Welcome to Europe Guide. The guide covers so much information you’ll need to help you get settled and start living this wonderful European experience. If you have questions or suggestions to improve the publication, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Willkommen in Europa!
Tschüss,
Jeana Coleman
Stars and Stripes Europe
Publishing and Media Design, Lead Writer-Editor
colemanj@estripes.osd.mil
February 2012
