Bachelor in Paradise alum Kendall Long has revealed how she's dealing with the "crazy adjustment" of moving from the United States to Germany with her fiance Mitchell "Mitch" Sagely.
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Kendall, who competed on Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s season of The Bachelor and multiple editions of Bachelor in Paradise, announced in late October that she'd be moving to Germany with Mitch for his job as an aerospace engineer, and then the couple got engaged in late November.
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Kendall and Mitch -- who are both from California -- have since moved into an AirBnB together in Germany, and they are currently enjoying their "first week" in Germany together.
"I'm doing very good. It's a little chaotic; there's a lot going on currently. This is our first week in Germany, but overall, it's been an adventure. It's been great," Kendall shared during the December 21 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast co-hosted by Becca Kufrin and Michelle Young.
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Kendall said leaving L.A., where her family and friends live, and starting over in a brand new country has been "a crazy transition."
"Germany does things a lot differently, so it's just adjusting to that. Learning the language, I know how to say, 'I don't know how to speak much German,' so that's helped me," Kendall shared with a laugh.
"It's definitely been an adjustment, but it's been really cool."
As far as what's been so different for the blonde beauty, Kendall explained that most things are "paper based" and so she's had to do a lot of paperwork. Kendall said in order to receive a license in Germany, for instance, her landlord had to sign a document confirming her official place of residence.
"Everything is by the book and very structured," she noted, "and so that's been interesting to get used to because I'm very much all over the place. I'm not used to having to reset my life, because I grew up in L.A. my entire life."
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Kendall said the weather in Germany has also been a shock to her compared to sunny California.
"I decided to come here during winter, which was a great idea because it's, like, snowing and freezing -- and I've never lived in the snow before," Kendall joked, adding that she didn't even know "warm socks are a thing" people buy.
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While Kendall has been in New York City during snowstorms, she acknowledged how "living" in a snowy, cold place is very different than visiting somewhere or taking a vacation.
"I've literally seen people with jackets that look like sleeping bags -- their whole body covered. And I'm taking notes," Kendall said with a laugh.
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Kendall pointed out how she sold basically everything she had and has been shipping the rest of her belongings to Germany.
"So I will get that in probably a month or two. It takes a while to ship everything here, so I'm living out of a couple suitcases until then," Kendall said. "But I got a coat."
Kendall also said Germany takes holidays very seriously and Christmas is "so festive."
"It's just so beautiful here during the holidays, and yeah, it's just been a whirlwind," Kendall said.
"I am excited to fully get to know more about the German culture and really immerse myself into it -- and I'm with Mitch. So it's been a very fun little intro into being engaged; this is the first time we've lived together."
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Kendall said she's also been trying new foods.
Kendall -- who said she went from vegan to vegetarian to pescatarian over the years -- revealed how she eats meat when she travels, especially because of "good quality" foods in different countries.
Kendall told Becca and Michelle how the food in Germany is "really good" with excellent Italian, sushi and Asian-influence choices.
"The first week we were here, we had to go out to eat all the time just because we didn't have anywhere else to go, and it didn't disappoint," Kendall insisted. "It was very interesting. Some things I was like, 'I've never tried that before!'"
Kendall said she has yet to experience a German pretzel or beer, but she apparently plans on buying a Christmas tree.
"Being away from our families on the holidays is going to be incredibly difficult... But I'm excited. I'm excited to have my first Christmas with Mitch and we're newly engaged and it's going to be really cute," Kendall gushed.
"We'll have a little tree. Because last year, our first date was the day after Christmas."
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Kendall -- who is two hours away from Munich -- also said she'll have a friend visiting her in March and then her parents and brother will visit for a spring festival in April or May 2023.
According to the reality TV star, she and Mitch will live in Germany for two years.
"We're already talking about different places we might live after this. But our goal is to go back to where our family lives in California," Kendall explained.
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"Our families live so close together, and so that's the ultimate goal. [Germany] is moreso an adventure before we settle down and have kids."
Kendall met Mitch through mutual friends in December 2021 at a volleyball game and they apparently "clicked" right away and felt "a lot of chemistry."
"Mitch is the kind of guy who makes the first move," Kendall boasted. "So he was very much the more dominant one in that regard, and I loved [him taking charge]."
When Kendall announced her engagement, she wrote on Instagram, "It's always been a HECK YES with you Mitch. I love your brain, I love your family, I pretty much just love every single thing about you! So incredibly over the moon that we get to start our epic adventure together in a new country."
She added, "I've heard love explained to me by my parents and was scared I would never experience something so wonderful. But with you, love is so much better than I could have ever imagined it to be. I feel so lucky and I can't wait to officially be a Sagely."
Kendall had agreed to move to Germany even though she repeatedly refused to give Chicago, IL, a chance with her ex-boyfriend Joe Amabile, which resulted in the Bachelor in Paradise couple splitting up.
Mitch asked Kendall to be his girlfriend on Valentine's Day in February 2022, and then Kendall went Instagram official with Mitch in April and bragged about how she was "in love."
Kendall had dated Joe for nearly two years before they broke up in January 2020.
Kendall and Joe fell in love on Bachelor in Paradise's fifth season in 2018, and then they moved in together in Los Angeles in April 2019.
Kendall and Joe attempted to remain friends after calling it quits in 2020, but Kendall previously explained their breakup was difficult for her because they never fell out of love; it was logistics that broke them apart.
Kendall said she wanted to continue living in Los Angeles, but Joe hoped to move back to his hometown of Chicago to be near his loved ones.
"What happened was we broke up, we fought... we had our differences... but then I came back to [Los Angeles] four months after and I was pushing to have that conversation," Joe recalled on Bachelor in Paradise last summer.
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"You were pushing to have me move to Chicago," Kendall argued with Joe.
"I was pushing to have you try -- yeah," Joe clarified, "to come move to the city where I grew up in, where my friends and family are. I think if you just would've tried, we could've figured something out."
Kendall said things probably would've ended the same way regardless because she had made it clear from the start of their relationship that moving away from her hometown was "a dealbreaker" for her.
"I wasn't going to change my mind and I think you were hoping I would," Kendall said on the show last year.
"Your thing was that you didn't want to move anywhere for a man... I should've been more than just 'a man' at that point, and we could've tried it," Joe pointed out.
Once Kendall and Joe worked through a "messy" reunion and found the closure they needed, Joe pursued a relationship with Serena Pitt on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season.
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"If she really wanted me back," Joe said of Kendall on the ABC reality series, "she should have told me before I got here and before I started this. Because I really, really loved her."
Kendall ultimately decided to quit the show because she said it was too difficult to watch Joe with Serena and her feelings for Joe registered as painful realizations that she wasn't over him. She didn't want to sacrifice her mental and emotional well-being to stay on the show.
Joe is currently married to Serena, whom he wed in October, and the couple is living together in New York City.
Joe reacted to Kendall's engagement news in early December on his "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast.
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