Well, I take an educated guess and think that may be in the small Iowa town you just simply did not have the right skills set, back then when you were living there, and now in Germany you do have the skill set.
When you go back to Iowa and apply the right skill set, assuming you educate yourself on what is the right skillset in Iowa small town, you can still reach the potential that that city is offering
I did question my false beliefs in Germany when I was visiting my family and killed many of the wong beliefs (well, as a son of a gastarbeiter, you can compare it to the african americans in the 70s - and as of today, Germany still requires job applicants to have their picture in job applications, rife ground for discrimination) - and Bavaria is deeply Catholic and has a more conservative version of the CDU, namely CSU in power for god nows how long.
When you go back to Iowa and apply the right skill set, assuming you educate yourself on what is the right skillset in Iowa small town, you can still reach the potential that that city is offering
I did question my false beliefs in Germany when I was visiting my family and killed many of the wong beliefs (well, as a son of a gastarbeiter, you can compare it to the african americans in the 70s - and as of today, Germany still requires job applicants to have their picture in job applications, rife ground for discrimination) - and Bavaria is deeply Catholic and has a more conservative version of the CDU, namely CSU in power for god nows how long.