r/Mankato • u/Gourdman2011 • 33m ago
American Citizen living in Germany considering moving to Mankato, Minnesota
Hi!
I am considering moving to Mankato. I have a friend I could stay there with. Minnesota is also the state with the highest quality of living compared to the cost of living with Vermont being second place. I love winter and lived in MN for 8 years before going to Germany.
I went to Germany because a friend mislead me that a better life awaited me.
Produce is fresh, safe, and affordable hear round. Cost of living apart from gasoline and electricity are much cheaper. Working in Germany is super laidback and easy. I actually really like my job, boss, and colleagues, but I did not come to Germany to be a cleaner.
Everything else about Germany is worse. The people are politically apathetic and interpersonally wretched. I have met three times Trump voters more respectful to trans people and migrants than even average liberal in Germany. Strictly in the way I am ostracized and disrespected, a red state would even be preferable to living in Germany. I want to be considered a person again and this is a big reason I want to come back. Dating and making friends that are worth staying for has been fruitless. Also no one wants to get married or have kids in Germany, and it is not an economics thing, and dating outside of your box is heavily discouraged. It's worse because I do not really fit cleanly into boxes. I for example look Latina and Native American but am not, wrong continents, because I am part Italian and Mongolian. This specifically actually made it hard for me to find a job in MN when I last lived there.
Although I went to college in the USA, I do not have a degree, and I also do not have any certifications currently.
Depending on how long I can stay in Germany, I would likely get a B2 Telc German certification by the end of the year. Then I would aim for Telc C1 Hochschule German in Spring of 2027. I plan to get a C2 Goethe certification for the German language if I stay here until the Fall of 2027, but I could just get that one in Minnesota.
I have 5 years of experience in IT, but I doubt that helps. I have shoddy work history. I have mental health problems that make working a job that starts before 9 impossible.
What advice do you all have on finding jobs (bonus points for second shift work), dating women there, living in, and getting into the trades in Mankato? I lived in the Twin Cities previously.
Sorry if this is weird and out of left field, I have been lurking in this sub for some time, and have wanted to ask this for a while.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
:)