Arriving in Tehran – the Start of a Big Adventure

InterNations member Philip moved from Europe to Iran to work with a cultural company only to find a country quite different to his earlier understanding and not at all what he imagined. Here is the first instalment of his story on dealing with a situation that no one could have predicted! Being an indigenous British [...]

Francophone ≠ Francophone

We interviewed Justine, originally from Montréal Canada, who is now living in Lyon, and tells us how her initial expectations of life in France were completely up the wrong alley. Tell us a bit about yourself: How did you end up in Lyon? Was there any culture shock being a French-Canadian and going to France? [...]

Getting Home – 30 Years Later

Expat Maris tells us about his experience of feeling strangely at home in his country of origin, Latvia, despite not having lived there longer than 10 months of his life. I was born in Latvia, yet spent most of my childhood and adolescence in Denmark and was living in the United States for the past [...]

Packing Light

When Davide from Sardinia in Italy found out he was to be offered a job transfer to New Zealand, he was delighted! What he didn’t quite consider was that the job was to start in 3 weeks and he needed to get ready. He recalls his three-week packing spree and how he regretted not taking [...]

Predisposed to Expatriate

Jen from Denmark tells us how she had always dreamed of going abroad since she was little, despite the fact that her parents had a certain distaste for everything non-Danish. Read on for her explanation of how she decided to follow her dreams and the hardships she faced with her family. I was raised in [...]

Trivial Goodbyes?

Patrick from Ireland takes a different twist on saying goodbye to his friends and family before moving overseas to Algeria. I’ve read a lot of different tips online concerning how to properly say goodbye to your friends and family before going abroad. Now I know that most of these tips are pretty self-explanatory but I [...]

Where are the Yodeling Cows?

Michael from San Francisco went on a 2 year expat assignment to Zurich Switzerland and recalls how incredibly unprepared he was for what awaited him in this foreign country. I had always wanted to go to Switzerland, I am a big fan of skiing and where can one ski better than in the Swiss Alps?! [...]

Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Serial Expat’s Dilemma

There are thousands of reasons to move abroad: an interesting job, the whole family moving, girlfriend or boyfriend living abroad, or simply feeling like experiencing life somewhere else. It may also be the case that for economic, political, climatic, or other reasons, you do not want to spend the rest of your life in your [...]

Home: A State of Mind

Eric, a 37 year old graphic designer from America, shares some reflections on the concept of home with us. Usually people start conversations by introducing themselves and giving a few basic facts: what they do, how old are they, where they come from. This last part is the question I actually cannot answer… I’ll explain [...]

Moving Stuff from Country A to Country B

Moving is never an easy task, especially if one is moving an entire household overseas. The most important part is keeping your cool, which is obviously easier said than done. If you are packing by yourself without the help of a moving company, it is always much more difficult to keep an overview of everything. [...]