Why the Happy Valley?

I can recall the first time I heard of the Vorarlberg region. It was in the autumn of 2008. My geography skills are not the best so I obviously couldn't position it exactly. At least I knew it was in Austria. Little did I know back then that it lies between German and Swiss border, touching the far south of the Lake of Constanz.

From that day, Vorarlberg and in particular one of its towns Dornbirn became part of my daily life. Still, I could never imagine that 6 years later I would move to this part of the world. In the meantime, I met a few people that are still today my friends. And everything that they explained and showed me, helped in defining this region as the Happy Valley. It seemed that it had everything. Lakes, rivers, beaches, mountains, astonishing architecture, some of the cultural sensations, spring in February and winter in April. For people who love hitting the beach and skiing for six months, it feels like living in heaven. On top of that, if you are into a punk rock music genre, you will not be disappointed by the concerts taking place around the region. This happy valley is commonly known as Dreiländereck (my humble translating skills, from German to English, would translate that as the area where three countries meet). On the other hand, it was not as easy to get used to the things around here. Especially if German is not your strength. So, it took a while to discover best practice around here, learn how to communicate with people, deal with rain and fog and start enjoying every day. One of the crucial moments, that you as an international can go through is the moment you realize that the dialect around here is actually understandable. Today, almost four years later, I consider Vorarlberg and Dornbirn my second home (nothing could ever remove my home Town Osijek in Croatia from that throne). And I can confirm that it is really not the worst place in the world to live in. In fact, it is a pleasant experience that I get to share with quite a big group of internationals around here. unfortunately, some of them decided to pursue their paths outside of the Vorarlberg, so I had to find a way to keep them updated.

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