I'm a legal alien in Hamburg

I'm an Alien in Hamburg

2015 / 09 / 27

As Sting might have sung, "Woah, Oh, I'm an Alien, I'm a legal Alien, I'm an American in Hamburg" [in homage to Sting's "I'm in Englishman in New York"]

By accepting a job overseas we've moved our entire family over to Hamburg, Germany starting in May 2015.

I will be trying to give my friends and readers an insight into the challenges and excitement of living in Europe - specifically Hamburg, Germany.

For those of you not familiar with Germany's cities, Hamburg is in the North Center of Germany
roughly equidistant from Denmark to its North, Poland to the East, and the Netherlands to the West. It is further North than London and Berlin at about 53 degrees 34 minutes North latitude roughly at the equivalent of Edmonton, Alberta in North America.

Hamburg is located on the major river of the Elbe, which flows North from the Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic down into the German city of Dresden and then Northwest towards Hamburg and eventually to the North Sea. In parts of central Germany, the Elbe used to form part of the Iron Curtain border between East and West Germany. The river dominates life in Hamburg and is what makes the city one of the most important ports in Europe (2nd just behind Rotterdam) and the world (9th busiest) despite being over 110 kilometers (68 miles) from the sea.

The city is Germany's second largest and the European Union's eigth largest with a population of over 1.7 million and over 5 million in its larger metropolitan area. Besides the maritime trade that the river provides, it is also home to a major airport and factory for Airbus. With the variable weather that its location provides, the river Elbe and the Alster lake creating a dominance of water on its layout and its commercial aviation and port focus, it feels in many ways similar to Seattle just without all the hills as Hamburg is generally quite flat with the gentlest of slopes except at parts of the riverbank.

Hamburg's downtown Lake Alster waterfront at night

Hamburg Coat of Arms

Hamburg is actually the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg - which means it is actually one of a few german cities that qualify as their own states within the Federal Republic of Germany. This is due to its long history of independence and importance. Prior to the 1871 creation of modern Germany as we know it, the city of Hamburg was its own soverign country for at least as far back as 1189 when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick "Barbarossa" the First granted Hamburg an Imperial Free City charter. The Hanseatic portion of its official name is in tribute to its historic role in the Hanseatic League of merchant cities across northern Europe (1356 to the last official meeting in 1669 or its official demise in 1862).


Being its own state actually does have an impact on working and living in Hamburg. There are different rules and regulations that each german state controls. So by being within the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, we are registered to live and work specifically here and would need to get new work and residence visas if we were to move to a different location in Germany for work.


Over the course of the next few weeks I hope to give you an insight into all the strange and unusual differences of what it means to be an American in modern Germany.  From Beer to Bratwurst, shopping and travelling, working and having fun in Hamburg is an experience that we'll never forget.