Leaving the Travel Guide at Home

Elodie from Montpellier shares with us her realization that she travels differently since she’s been an expat. I obviously went on vacation before I left Montpellier to begin working in San Francisco yet since my time abroad I came to the realization that I travel differently. Now I don’t mean necessarily in how I pack [...]

Trying to Stay Away from Expat Watering Holes

Expat Samantha from the UK tried to avoid having too much contact to other expats when she moved to Argentina, and tells us how incredibly hard it was for her to do this and why it is sometimes impossible to find local friends. I was completely convinced that I would have no problem whatsoever finding [...]

Playing in the Concrete Jungle

Jimmy from Chicago decided to take up a job offer in Tokyo in order to learn about his family heritage and discover whether his grandparents’ experiences of Tokyo before coming to America still ring true. In this blog entry, he tells us about some of his impressions from his first day in Tokyo. I wouldn’t [...]

Umbrian Wine

Melanie from Los Angeles finds love with an Italian winegrower visiting California for a wine seminar who came into her wine shop. After a few months of leading long distance relationship, she decides to risk it and let go of her security blanket in the States and moves to Umbria in Italy. She shares her [...]

Do you shower daily?

Marisa from Barcelona moved to Berlin for a new job and shares her experience of finding a flat. I hadn’t really thought much about how different Berlin would be from Barcelona, except of course the obvious language and climate difference. I learned German in school so I was quite happy to have that basis – [...]

Bi-Religious

Expat Hannah from Israel tells us the story of how her daughter wanted to discover Christmas and some other Christian holidays even though her family was Jewish. She recounts how she and her husband came up with a plan to enable their kids to experience all religions! A few weeks ago in the hubbub of [...]

Anti-Christmas in the Sand

Expat Ivana from Bosnia tells us how she experienced her first Christmas without snow in Puerto Rico. I always loved Christmas time. Despite the ridiculous amounts of gifts being purchased and long lines in the stores, the stressed faces running around as if they were under a strict deadline to shop shop shop till they [...]

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 [...]

Waking up in Hong Kong

Lynette from Wales moved to Hong Kong for work and shares her initial impression and surprise upon arriving in the “fragrant harbor”. When I initially moved to Hong Kong I thought I was going to be living in a completely different country. I expected different architecture, obviously different food, different nature, basically everything to be [...]

Diplomat Brat

Anzal tells his story of how he grew up in a diplomat family and moved from country to country very frequently throughout his childhood. Despite these moves, he is grateful to his parents for creating a stable home for him and his sister. I was born in Lebanon into a diplomat family. My father was [...]