I once went to Germany "for six months" and the same thing happened to me.

From The Onion:

CHARLOTTE, NC—Suddenly stopping in his tracks as he boarded the Lynx blue line to go apply for a library card on Tuesday, local man Mark Collier came to the horrifying realization that he was putting down roots in the city of Charlotte, NC...

I ended up staying for nine years. Qualifications, job, friends, wife, kids, bank account, telephone, the lot.