Meet the Girl

autumn-Bev

Hello! I’m Beverley – more commonly known as (Confuzzled) Bev around these parts – a 30-something (eek! How did that happen?) English woman currently living near Basel, Switzerland.

I am the oldest of four, but two of my siblings aren’t actually related to one another.

I studied German at university, oh so many moons ago, and spent my year abroad in Karlsruhe, Germany, which is where I met my boyfriend.

After finishing my studies, I spent 11 months in Austria because I’d always wanted to live there, before moving back to Karlsruhe in 2006 to be with my boyfriend – two years long distance was long enough! We got a flat together in 2010 and lived there until we moved to Switzerland for his job in April 2015. As an army brat, those 8 and a half years in Karlsruhe were the longest I had ever lived in one town in a single stretch!

I work at a translation company, which is usually interesting but can be stressful.

In June 2018 I got pregnant with twins after going through fertility treatment. I lost them at 16+4 weeks after an infection caused me to go into pre-term labour. Our baby boys were born on 3rd October 2018. To the world they never officially existed, but to us they are our sons and we will never forget them ❤

I have always loved books and reading, ever since I can remember. It is my escape from the world. My one regret in life is that I will never be able to read everything on my to-read list.

A few random I like: pub quizzes, cross stitch, stars, foxes, travel… and many more things that I can’t think of right now. Stick around and you may find out about some of them.

I started this blog purely for myself, because it gives me something to do and because sometimes I just need to get my thoughts out of my head. I never actually expected anyone to read it, but I am amazed and grateful for every single person that comments or follows along. I’m sure some people think of me as an expat blogger, but I rarely think of myself that way – for one thing, I hate that only rich/white people get to be expats while everyone else is a “migrant”. Also, I believe my content would be the same wherever in the world I happen to be! Travel blogger… food blogger… relationship blogger. I am none of those things, although I blog about them all. (Probably I’m closest to a “lifestyle blogger”, whatever that even means.)

44 thoughts on “Meet the Girl”

  1. Hey,

    I came across your blog while searching for internships at translation agencies in braunschweig. I’ve just finished my first year of uni doing german and italian and starting to plan my year abroad. I really want to go into translation and was told i should look for relevant work experience while im in germany…so…i was wondering if you could help me out with names of big translation agencies. So far i only have kern but their headquarters are in frankfurt and i would really like to go to hannover/braunschweig area…

    I realise that i’m a complete stranger but your help would be much appreciated!

    ally x

    Reply

  2. Hi Alison!
    Thanks for the comment. I’m actually an intern at the Karlsruhe branch of Kern. I’m going to send you an email about it now.

    B xx

    Reply

  9. Hi Bev , We have a newly launched blog, takingonthegiant.com about young people, past and present who change the world. I want to follow your fine blog and hope you might be interested in following ours. We have stumbled into the middle of a big story and we thought you might like to become involved. Last year, Anjali Appadurai, a student at The College of the Atlantic, managed to address all the senior delegates at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which was held in South Africa. Her brief, awesome speech got world-wide attention. But since the simple clear voice of a youth severely challenged the delegates in a way some of the more powerful members did not want to hear, at this year’s Conference in Doha, Qatar, Anjali has been kicked out. This the student who has been dubbed the youth voice of civil society. Imagine, being over in the Middle East, thousands of miles from home and being intimidated by Security officials. But she has kept her cool and the youth there supporting her have written a polite letter demanding her reinstatement. However, if Anjali is not reinstated, there most certainly will be an effort to mobilize young people around the world to support her. If you could take three minutes and link to her speech from last year and decide if you don’t agree that she is a powerful voice representing the youth of the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko3e6G_7GY4. If you do agree with us, (and tens of thousands of others) consider doing a story either by linking to our website (or just steal from it, we don’t care) to inform and involve your considerable followers. Young people dream of a better world but worry that it might not be… this is a way they can act on their dreams. If you have any question, we would be happy to provide any assistance possible.
    Charlie Butts

    Reply

      1. I tried to have one here but the stress of wondering if anyone would show up was too much for me! I got 5 tables in the end I think but that was the first and last one!

  16. Hi there~
    Just came across your blog while perusing the wordpress site to see if there were more blogs about expat life in Germany that I had missed and there you were!
    Particularly piqued by the fact that you work at a translation company- haven’t poked around the blog yet but hope you write about your work as well as your life here [I’m also in dem Vaterland- just celebrated my one year anniversary!]

    Reply

    1. Hey! Glad you found me – it’s always nice to “meet” fellow expats. If you check my links page, there are a few other bloggers who are based in Germany.

      I tend not to go into too much detail about work just in case I accidently end up saying something I shouldn’t, but I do mention it occasionally. I also don’t really write specifically on my life here though (or very rarely). I write about my life, which currently happens to be taking place in Germany 🙂

      Happy one year anniversary! I’ve been here seven now (just realised I complerely missed my 7 year anniversary!!)

      Reply
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  21. Hi there, I’m a friendly lurker who really enjoys your blog. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated your blog for a Versatile Blogger Award. To find out more see here http://theerlangenexpat.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/versatile-blogger-award/. This award is a way for bloggers to show appreciation to other bloggers, and it’s a personal kick up the bum to me to make sure I show my personal appreciation for you and your blog. Congratulations!

    Reply

  25. Hey there – I like what Ellen said above. No family is normal and that makes your family normal 🙂 Your blog looks very interesting and includes traveling stories, so I will definitely stick around.
    – Ruta

    Reply

  27. Hi there! I stumbled upon your blog in the comments section of a blog post yesterday – about Swiss being friendly VS making friends in Switzerland 😉
    Lovely blog you have here – I will be following along from now on! See you around the blogosphere ✿

    Reply

  28. Hello! Hope that you are well! I wasn’t sure when you mentioned Tittisee being 2 hours train away whether that might have meant a possible meet up (which would be great although a long distance for you!!) or were just mentioning it, but I’ve seen the schedule and it seems we are only there for one night. Before that we are somewhere else!
    Sat Travel to northern region of the Black forest and campsite.
    Sun Hiking in the fabled woods.
    Mon Exploring the area/tourism driving to central region of Black forest and campsite at Titisee
    Tues Heading to Vosges, france
    Weds; Vosges walk
    Thurs Homewardin

    Anyway- if I give you my email address, send me one kallingarner AT rocket mail DOT com and I’ll try to let you know what on earth is happening if there is any reception or somewhere to charge my phone if there were a possibility of meeting (possibly unlikely given our moving around/bossy husband!! If that was merely an observation, then no probs!
    Take care,
    Kezzie x

    Reply

  31. Hello Bevchen
    I like your blog. Stumbled on it while looking for a translation of a baking ingredient. Funny you are living not far from my town. Just over the Jura..!
    Basel is not easy or kind to foreigners.. well they tend to switch to french when they want to freeze you out…imagine their “nasty” surprise when the “German “person then started to speak to them in fluent french whereupon they could not answer back because their schoolfrench was very poor and limited. My mother and I used to laugh lot about that when we went shopping in Basel. We got that a lot when we went to the nice coffeeshops on Spalenberg.

    Reply

  32. Bevchen
    there is a class systhem for foreigners in some Swiss minds and the English rank in places above the Germans=Sauschwaben !(history+ww2) The Basler hate the Germans in secret especially when they tend to be more successfull in their lives and are not so the shy foreigners.
    Speaking English is elegant – do the same with “High German” in Basel NOT SO!

    Reply

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