When we first got to live in Europe, we landed in a place that was lovely but not quite our vibe. We visited many cities until finding one that felt right for us.

We made it home, and really enjoy both the comfort of being around like-minded people and the challenge of being in a new, diverse place. The streets are full of people with very different backgrounds, often speaking different languages. What we all have in common is a commitment to living in a just, peaceful, cosmopolitan society.

It takes some effort to build new social bubbles, but it is a delight compared to the “easy” hegemony of our prior homes in US cities.

Naturally, I find Europeans have been much faster to move to Mastodon and other services in the open social internet. Americans, to over-generalize, find it much more intimidating and prefer the ease of staying on Twitter, despite the oligarch-driven social decay.

I posted this in January 2023 during week 2548.

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