Reloading

This is the story of a 27-year-old guy who just moved from Aachen to London.
For all of you who do not know where Aachen is, don't worry it's not the most known place on earth.
For all of you who like mediaeval towns with old churches, narrow streets and forgotten legends, go to Aachen, you'll love it.
For all of you who are historians or have studied History, GO BACK to college and be ashamed of not knowing the town of Charlemagne, the crowning place of the German Emperors, the Free Imperial City of Aachen.

Episode 1: Home?
I just returned from Aachen. I had my penultimate MA examination in History which fortunately was successfull. Afterwards I had plenty of time to meet my friends there, to walk through the streets of the town where I spent 9 years of my life, to go to my old flat and see my old room... I was wandering the whole time, if this what I felt was "going-back-home".
Is there a place like "home"? Where am I "at home"?
1. For many people "home" is the place where one was born. That would be Cologne for me. I spent there the first 8 years of my life. I went to school there, but just for the first two years. I hardly know anybody from that time, with the exception of some cousins of mine, to who I hardly talk due to some old stories not to be telled here. Some dear friends do live there now, but this is a result of some recent developments in their lives and has nothing to do with my time there. Hm... I do like the city, I feel comfortable there, I could imagine myself living there, I know the places, not only the centre, I have an image of the city in my mind, but home... No, it's not. I suppose, my time there was too short to get this feeling, I didn't graduate from school there... This leads me to a second point:
2. "Home" is there where one went to school. That would be Heraklion then! Yippie, I got it! Well, no it isn't! I was 10 years in Heraklion, my parents and brother live there, I still have some friends there, but if it weren't for my parents and my brother, I wouldn't go annualy to Heraklion. In Heraklion it took me a long time to feel like home. Not because of the people. They were great to me: A caring family (with thousands of members, which I still do not know personally), friendly teachers, many children to play with, curious but loveable neighbours, people, people, people... It was mostly because of the places. I remember all these caring and curious people talking about places in town, naming streets and neighbourhoods and taking it for granted that one knows these places; well this made me feel like a stranger. And when my time in Heraklion was completed I started being a real "Irakliotis". But I left. And after nine years away all is left is the song of Panos and Charis Katsimichas saying:

Nothing has changed but nothing is the way it used to be

I can't be there. My Heraklion of 1997 is not any more there. And I doubt if I want to have it back.
3. "Home" is the place where you first fall in love. OK, that would be Aachen then. I had a great time in Aachen. I met so many different people, I met there my best friends ever, I fell in love there and had my first relationships, I went to the university there, I had my first jobs there, my first (and hopefully last!) excesses. Aachen gave me so many things to carry for the rest of my life. But what happens when the people you love go? They get married and buy appartments, they find a job in Cologne, Milan or Athens. And the one YOU really love goes for the same reasons to London. So...
4. "Home" is where your love lives. So this is where I am! LONDON, I want to love you, you brought my love here, please BE MY HOME!

To be continued...