Do you know the tale of the town mouse and the country mouse?

A town mouse visits her cousin in the countryside. The town mouse despises her cousin’s simple life and hearty food. She invites the country mouse back to the city for a taste of the real life. The town mouse promises to show her cousin the pulsating city life and takes her out for a luxurious dinner. However, their gourmet dinner is abruptly ended by stray cats and the mice have to scurry to safety. The country mouse decides that city life is not for her. She returns home to the countryside, where she continues to live a simple but happy life.

I always wanted to be a town mouse. Grown up in a German city, my job took me halfway around the world. I lived and worked in cities like Berlin, Rome, Vienna and New York. I fully enjoyed the city life with everything it had to offer.

Towards the middle of life I developed a feeling of restlessness and the desire to give my life a new meaning. There was an emptiness in me, and suddenly I couldn’t put up with the vain and hectic city life any longer. I needed to regroup.

Beauty of a simple life with nature

Today I know that I am a country mouse. I relish the clarity and beauty of a reduced, simple life in and with nature. A return to the essentials.

A significant part of these essentials, however, is a community. A community of people, with whom to share values, interests, laughter and tears. A community of friends. The creation of such communities is our goal at Coliarte.

Together, not alone.