Writing the book “Your Integration”, I reflected on the past 22 years of my life in Germany where, in the beginning, I felt like “Pale was all alone in the world”. I didn’t have friends, I was alone, I didn't know the language, I was far from friends and family. I left everything I had built up until then, down there. I left half of my soul and half of my heart and half of everything that makes me the person I am – down there. I cried during that period when no one was looking – multiple times. I could not even dream how strong the emotion of parting was and how much weight one carries with them when leaving their birthplace and, so many years later, it's still there. I still feel the burden when I recall those moments and the farewell to the Balkans and to my mother and father. I must admit that writing this book was a pure rehabilitation for me, to transform my emotions into words and to direct all these emotions that drive me into helping you and others who deal with the same burden, to understand that it's normal, that in the end, we are just humans made of blood, flesh, and emotions, and it's okay not to be okay. It's okay to have bad phases. That out there, there are so many people going through or who have gone through the same challenges as you and I.
I want to tell you that even such a decision to move to another country is a big deal and that we've given up a lot and have come too far to give up and not to make something big out of it. The beginning of every success is to dare and the start of every marathon is the first step.
