Emma Stoddard is a 31-year-old who traded her native Scotland for Germany and now loves every minute of her life in the fast-paced city of Stuttgart with her husband and two kids.
A translator for a small agency that does work for various large German companies, Stoddard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised in Glasgow, the country’s only real multicultural city.
“Glasgow has lots of people from all over the world,” Stoddard told us, “mostly second generation. I went to school with kids whose parents had immigrated mostly from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was kind of cool because Glasgow is the only multicultural city in Scotland. Every thing else is just kind of Scottish.”
An only child, Stoddard graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in European Union Studies, which also included work in German and Danish languages.
Following graduation in 2005, she had the opportunity to attend a two-week student program in northern Germany funded by the European Union. “There were young people from almost every country in Europe, about 200 of us,” she said. “That is where I met my husband, who is Hungarian. He was about to begin graduate studies in Saarbrücken, Germany, and while we were at the event I applied for and got a job in Heidelberg, and the rest is history.”
It was an easy transition to Germany for Stoddard. Since the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there were no restrictions on her emigration to the country. “I did not need a work permit or anything,” she said. “I arrived on a Sunday evening and I spent Monday getting a tax card, a bank account and things like that and was able to start work on Tuesday.”
When she moved to Germany, she did experience some culture shock. “It was the first time I had a proper job,” she said, “so I was transitioning into the real world, but in a brand new country. It took some adjustment, but fluency in German really helped.”
After her husband graduated in 2007, he got a job as an IT consultant in Stuttgart. Stoddard found a job as a translator, but in Heidelberg, over an hour away by train. “I was commuting back and forth for about a year, which was not much fun,” Stoddard said. “I spent a lot of time drinking coffee at train stations.”
The couple was married in 2009 and became a family in 2012 when their daughter was born. Their son joined the family this summer.
Stuttgart is Stoddard’s kind of place. Located in southwest Germany, the city of over 1.5 million people is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg and the country’s sixth-largest city.
“I love living in Stuttgart,” Stoddard said. “It is twice as a big as Edinburgh or Glasgow and is the headquarters for automobile companies Mercedes Benz and Porsche, as well as Bosch, the large electronics manufacturer. There are lots of employment opportunities here. If you are not from a European Union country, you will need a work permit, but most of the big companies have dedicated people who help expats with all of the paperwork.”
The family bought an apartment right in the thick of the hustle and bustle of Stuttgart. “It is right in the city center,” Stoddard explained. “It is so convenient living downtown and no car is necessary. I am two tram stops from my work and my husband is less than ten minutes by bike from his job.”
Stoddard said, though, that Stuttgart traffic is horrible and the whole city is a building site. “The economy is very strong here so construction is everywhere,” she said. “They are building new subway lines and rebuilding others and constructing new shopping malls and buildings. It seems like they are digging up streets constantly.”
She loves that the city is culturally diverse and compact. “You can walk everywhere,” Stoddard said, “and it is not overwhelming. The city is set in a valley with forested green hills. You can be in the country within 10 minutes.”
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