Since I realized P and I would not be living together on our first anniversary somewhere around 4 months ago, I have been coming to terms with the concept of living alone. It seemed so unusual to live in a different state and country than one's husband. Then I opened my eyes and realized it's not. In fact, quite the opposite, many people I know have partners who they only see on the weekends. I looked first at my immediate surroundings and noticed that of my 6 colleagues, only 3 actually live together with their partners and only 1 of those full time at the moment as the other two have partners who live elsewhere during the week. It is true none of them are married but some of my sample has actually been together much longer than p and I. I began to feel like it was less unusual to live apart and commute on the weekends. Then, lat Friday, at the MBA graduation, I was talking to a Professor and he casually mentioned how he commuted 3 hours round trip each day when he first took the job here and then he finally moved to a great neighborhood in the city. Now, he commutes to Copenhagen. He was making light of his situation but inside I was laughing because suddenly Basel didn't seem so bad. In a country where commutes are often minimal, splitting time between two cities to support two careers is not uncommon and once again, I find myself thankful that Basel is only 2.5 hours by train, especially because a new friend just told me how to buy discounted last minute train tickets.
On related news, my very oldest friend is going to be in Europe next month on business and I'll be using the Deutsche Bahn to meet up with her for a weekend. A welcome surprise which I am already looking forward to.
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