When I moved to Belgium in May 2018, it was one of the most significant changes in my life. Even though I had moved around within Germany quite often and also had spent a reasonable amount of time abroad, moving to Ghent was the first time that I left the country I was born and raised.
Mentally, leaving Germany was easy. I never thought of that country as my home but as a hideaway that my parents chose to escape the atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
And still, leaving Germany was a big step. There were the typical administrative tasks like unregistering from the country or canceling contracts. But I also had to decide on my future.
Where do I want to live when I leave Germany? What kind of life do I expect? Do I want to leave everything behind? In 26 years of life, I had made a lot of experiences in Germany, made lots of friends, had a broad network of business contacts that I created in my time as a freelancer, and, most importantly, my family was still in Germany.
Eventually, I chose Ghent. I think it was a safe option being close enough to my family and community and a language that doesn't differ too much from German. But at the same time, I was exploring a new culture with new people and new adventures.
I enjoyed my time in Ghent. I had the opportunity to work at an awesome place and to learn a lot. In the past two years, I grew a lot more than I had expected.
I also made some awesome friends that are the reason why I stayed in Ghent that long. Ghent is a perfect place if you are looking for a small and cozy place that is still energetic and active. Also, there are fewer racists than in German towns at that size.
I, however, needed something bigger. Even in Germany, I was more interested in places like Munich or Hamburg, and Ghent became too small for me over time.
I also started missing to have Tamil people around me. Either there aren't any Tamils in Ghent, or they are good at hiding themselves.
When I was younger, I was pretty active within our community but quite ever since to focus on myself and handle the trauma from the past. Slowly I felt that it was time to get back into it. I want to work on making the Tamil language more interesting for young people within our community and also contribute towards uniting the Tamil society.
Additionally, I want to get back into the fitness game again. I do not only want to become fitter and gain weight, but I also want to shape the fitness industry.
I had a really big idea of how technology will improve everybody's health and fitness, but I lost track of it when I left KERNWERK.
That is why I decided to move on. In the years in Ghent, I completed a wonderful chapter in my life but it is now time to take the next step.
At the end of 2019, I got in touch with awesome people at a small startup in London with the opportunity to get back into FitTech. London, one of the biggest cities in Europe and home to one of the biggest Tamil diaspora community, would become the place I would move to.
A chance that I could not miss. So starting in February, I will be working at Hussle in London as a front-end engineer. I hope to move to the city as soon as possible - finding apartments isn't that easy.
When I talk about FitTech, a lot of people misunderstand it as FinTech because FitTech is not that popular yet. I see it as a big chance for me to contribute to shaping an entire industry.
I am looking forward to working at Hussle and bring my value as a software developer, a fitness and startup enthusiast.
This will most likely be the most important chapter of my life. I'm on one hand excited about what is coming but I also feel the pressure to deliver (which most of the time helps me to deliver).
That is going to be another adventure!
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash