Join the only safe-space expat community in Germany
The Smoothler Club welcomes all internationals in Germany. Don’t feel alone, misunderstood, or anxious. Connect with like-minded internationals and support each other to settle into life in Germany more smoothly!
Meet other Smoothlers!
👋🏽 A club for foreigners moving to or living in Germany (Supportive Germans are welcome)
The Problem
Why Should You Care About
Another Online Community?
When choosing to live in a foreign country, excitement, a sense of adventure, and curiosity are often the driving emotions. However … have you also felt the flip side?
Frustration, loneliness, doubt, stress, and language barriers … just to name a few?
Who can you lean on to express your successes, highlights of the day, but also smaller and bigger struggles?
- your new colleagues? Sure, to a certain extent.
- your friends and family back home? Also to a certain extent – they won’t fully be able to understand you, since you are living in a new reality they know nothing about.
- other expats? That’s a great start … but how do you find them? Sure, there are lots of expat groups around … so are the stories about creepy interactions and ongoing negativity. We have also been to a few of those events in the past and never felt comfortable.
The Solution
A safe space for foreigners:
The Smoothler Club
With Simple Germany, we have fostered a warm, respectful, and supportive community over the past 4 years (just check out the comments section of our YouTube videos 🥰).
We realize that human connection is more important than ever! So, it is time for the next level!
Let us introduce you to The Smoothler Club – the only safe-space expat community in Germany!
Smoothler (n.): is a fantasy name composed of ‘smooth’ and ‘settler’. Our community members call themselves Smoothlers.
How did The Smoothler Club come to life?
It all started with our desire to get to know our community members better and to understand who is behind those loving, thankful, and encouraging comments and messages we get every day.
This is when we started our meet-up series in the fall of 2023. We got to meet over 50 Smoothlers from over 15 nationalities living all over Germany, who traveled to Düsseldorf to join our meet-ups.
After each event, Jen and I looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, what beautiful people’! Everyone had their own story and background; some had freshly arrived in Germany, and others were veterans with several years under their belts.
To keep a line of communication open we decided to open a Discord server – The Smoothler Club was born. Small but mighty – what happened over the next months amazed us even more. A small but thriving community was alive.
They answered each other’s individual questions, shared pictures of excursions and adventures, and planned activities.
Smoothlers from different meet-ups connected and met in real life. They celebrated birthdays and started a challenge to see who visits the most Christmas markets.
They organized visits to different Christmas markets and started ranking them on popularity.
And, of course, they also shared some struggles and pains. Because, as you know, life as an expat ain’t always easy.
However, our Smoothlers always kept a positive outlook. That is another thing we want to foster in this community. Nothing is perfect in this world, and it is important to fuss at times, but ongoing negativity is not helpful to anyone.
And as we always emphasize in our videos, perspective matters and it a powerful tool for gratitude. As a member of The Smoothler Club, you will get to share your perspective in a safe space.
So here we are in the spring of 2024, ready to open The Smoothler Club to everyone who:
- wants to join the fun
- wants to stop feeling alone
- is seeking connection – online and maybe also in real life.
Our existing community members are EXCITED to welcome YOU!
Who is this community for?
- Internationals living in Germany: Anyone is welcome, it does not matter if you have been here 2 weeks or 10 years.
- Internationals with concrete plans to move to Germany: If you are currently planning your move to Germany, don’t wait till you are here to join us. You might just benefit from a tip or two from other Smoothlers who have walked the path before you.
- Germans who embrace intercultural interaction: Whether you have an international partner or simply enjoy international vibes (yes, that’s Yvonne talking – I intentionally sought out international communities in Düsseldorf – that’s where I met Jen 😉), please join us!
What do you get
as a member?
We have different tiers, which you can check out on our Ko-Fi shop. Here is a screenshot of what you will see:
Frequently Asked Questions
- commitment from you – how many times have you signed up for something free but then never showed up?
- safe space – no trolls – we have heard enough times from other free communities how they can be creepy with inappropriate approaches and conversation starters. This is no-go for us. The Smoothler Club is based on our values of :
- Authenticity
- Respect
- Empathy
- Quality
- Ownership
- Self-Resilience
- Open-mindness
- we need your support! 99% of our content on Simple Germany is free, that is over 216.000 words in our guides and over 2.894 minutes (48 hours) of video on our YouTube Channel. We believe in the transformative power of our work for each individual and also for society at large. However, running Simple Germany comes with a price tag. To keep building and growing Simple Germany and The Smoothler Club we also rely on your financial support.
Yes, we will hang out in the Discord Server and host our monthly community calls 😊.
Not really. Other community members will be able to share their experiences and tips, however The Smoothler Club does not provide individual services or immigration advice.
