In order to become a U.S. citizen, one must be fingerprinted. Our fingerprinting appointment was truly unspectacular. It took less than five minutes.

Now that that's done, we must prepare to take the civics test, to prove our knowledge of U.S. History. We've been learning a lot along the way.

For example, I didn't know that there were two Roosevelts that served as U.S. Presidents. This is just one interesting fact we have learned while preparing for our Civics Test to become Americans.

As we anxiously await finally calling America home, we still love the though of our old home coming to us. Right now  my sister and her husband are visiting from Germany. I love those visits from family and friends because they change my perception of things.

As we watch our guests amazement at little things like grocery stores, we realize that we have becomed accustomed to life in Michigan. They see many ordinary things as something new and exciting. A trip to the store becomes an adventure. Take Meijer for example: you find a whole isle of cereals for every taste, in boxes that are considered gigantic in Germany. Frozen foods is another favorite, especially the huge ice cream buckets, in colors that no-one can be sure what they are made of. Again we realize that everything is bigger in the U.S. 

Our guests love to watch TV, especially with our ability to stream movies or TV series through the internet, commercial free and capable of being paused.

Another fact they really like is the abundance of nature surrounding us. But visiting during hunting season is new experience altogether. Hunting in Germany is purely done to control wildlife. It used to be a privilege for the royalty or the rich, but now it’s a job performed by a forester. You would never see deer strapped to the roof of a car driving the highway in Germany!

Germany is about double the size of Michigan but has eight times more people. It can get really crowded in Germany - even in smaller cities!

When we have visitors, we like to take them to downtown Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing. 

But our cozy Brighton offers so much that we so easily take for granted: lots of bars and restaurants (visitor’s favorite: Champ’s), shops and stores, of which Meijer, Target and Costco rank highest. Our downtown reminds them of German malls, being an outside event. There are so many things to do around here, that make living in Brighton so beautiful.

We are confident that we have chosen the perfect place for us to live and raise a family. "Brightoners" make it easy for newcomers to fit in and feel welcomed. After over nine years living in Brighton, we know so many people, see the same face and feel that we belong.

Becoming Americans means to us that we will truly belong to this beautiful community. We will not look different and our accent will remain, but our perceptions will change. I am really anxious to find out what I will feel when I get my certificate and later my U.S. Passport.

Read other articles in this series.