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? […]

Refusing “Women’s Work” in Uganda

Gisele from Switzerland moves to Uganda for work and ends up falling in love with one of her colleagues. Here is her story on dealing with the cultural differences, especially between men and women, in Africa. I never expected to fall in love during my two year assignment in Uganda. I went there with the […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 – […]