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Geopats Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals
By Stephanie Fuccio | Expat of 20+ yearsSociety & CultureEducationPersonal JournalsPlaces & TravelLanguage Learning
Geopats Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals episodes
- Reflections: Experience in South Korea Via An Email with Evan Simpson
Have your expectations about a place ever gotten you into trouble? American expat Evan, also known as my husband, was kind enough to be our first guest on the Expat Rewind show back in 2017. He shared a group email that he wrote to his family and friends back home with us.
After that episode, Expat Rewind expanded and I started to interview the guests. But his episode remained the only one without an interview portion. Since we are at the end of the Geopats Podcast rebranding process I thought it made sense to go back and reflect on his reflection, via an interview. So, this episode includes his original recording from 2017 AND at 13:51 our recent interview about his email and his recording. I have not re-edited the original episode much because I think the contrast in many aspects of the project is interesting in and of themselves. I hope you enjoy this double reflection of someone who is near and dear to me. Oh, did I mention that Evan is also my dear husband?
Links:
-Gepik Program: https://www.korvia.com/gepik-gyeonggi-english-program-in-korea/
-Confucian Philosophy: https://asiasociety.org/education/confucianism
-Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36236125-invisible-monsters
-shoganai: Japanese word for "it can't be helped": https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/shoganai
-Stress definition (this is not the exact meme I saw but it's the same quote):
https://me.me/i/what-is-stress-its-the-gap-between-our-expectation-4864189
This episode was created with:
-Steph's microphone: Samson Q2U (for the 2nd part of the episode)
-Auphonic,free online leveling software
- Producer, Editor, & Host: Stephanie (Gmail: stephfuccio)
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/geopats/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacwww.stephfuccio.com
Producer, Host, Editor: Stephanie Fuccio: https://www.stephfuccio.com/contact.html
questions for audio creatives newsletter: https://stephfuccio.ghost.io/
Geopats YouTube channel: under construction
This podcast was created with (affiliate links):- Streamyard for recording, going live, and distributing FULL videos to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube: https://streamyard.com?pal=5673660346007552
- Buzzsprout for podcast hosting: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1907332
- Acon Digital's DeVerberate to reduce echo: https://a.paddle.com/v2/click/11427/147398?link=3691
- Tube Buddy to optimize YouTube: https://www.tubebuddy.com/globalpodcasteditors
37 min - Teaching English in Korea: Expat Culture Shock and Learning to Let Go: S1E1
Send us Fan Mail
Have your expectations about a place ever gotten you into trouble?
In this first episode of Geopats Abroad, American expat Evan shares what culture shock looked like during his early years living abroad. We revisit a group email he originally sent to family and friends back home and talk about how his expectations shaped his experience of adapting to another culture.
What causes culture shock?
Culture shock often comes from the gap between what someone expects a place to be like and what daily life actually feels like. Expectations, assumptions, and comparisons to home can all shape how someone experiences living in another country.
In this episode
- What culture shock can feel like when you first move abroad
- How expectations affect the expat experience
- Looking back at early impressions of life in another country
- How your understanding of cultural differences changes over time
- What 20 years of living abroad can teach you about your own culture
Who this episode is for
This episode is for people preparing to move abroad, adjusting to expat life, or trying to better understand culture shock and cultural differences.
About Evan
Evan is an American expat and Stephanie’s husband. He was the first guest on Geopats Abroad back in 2017, when he shared a group email he had written to family and friends about his experience living abroad.
More than 20 years after that original experience, he reflects on what he understands differently now about culture shock, expectations, and adapting to life in another country.
Original publication date: May 7, 2018
🌍 Tools & resources for living, traveling, and working abroad: https://geopatsabroad.substack.com/p/living-abroad-resources
🛍️ Geopats Abroad Stationary Store: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=geopats_shop&utm_content=episode_description
🛠️ Podcast & creator tools I use: https://podcaststeph.substack.com/p/podcast-tools-i-use
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew
35 min - Living abroad can be challenging. This will help your overseas day to day life.
Send us Fan Mail
If you're thinking of living outside of your passport country OR like to learn more about different cultures around the world, welcome. These are conversations that I had with other long term expats about what grounded them in their other places in the world.
🌍 Tools & resources for living, traveling, and working abroad: https://geopatsabroad.substack.com/p/living-abroad-resources
🛍️ Geopats Abroad Stationary Store: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=geopats_shop&utm_content=episode_description
🛠️ Podcast & creator tools I use: https://podcaststeph.substack.com/p/podcast-tools-i-use
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew
3 min
About Geopats Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals
From the publisher's feed
Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while in our life abroad.
For eight years of my serial expat life, I interviewed people about…
the things that helped them understand, adjust to, and feel more connected to the places they were living.
The original Geopats Abroad podcast ended in 2022, but the conversations still hold up.
Living Abroad, Culture, Identity, and Belonging
In these conversations, you’ll find stories from expats, immigrants, international students, long-term travelers, and people whose lives don’t fit neatly into one place.
The driving force of the podcast is my own curiosity and desire to connect with other internationals globally. This isn’t just an audio project, a podcast, a YouTube channel, an Instagram profile, a Stationary Store or a Substack. It’s a very personal project. It’s part of who I am and who I was while recording these conversations.
Some episodes are practical. Others are deeply personal. Most explore the small and big things that help us make sense of a new place and feel more at home in it.
What Geopats Abroad Explores
Each season of Geopats Abroad approaches getting comfortable in our new places from a different angle.
Season 1: Guests looked back at something they had written during an earlier period of living abroad, including emails, blog posts, and social media posts, and reflected on how they saw that experience differently later.
Seasons 2 and 3: Language learning. Season 2 focused on foreigners learning Mandarin Chinese, while Season 3 featured native Chinese speakers talking about learning English and other languages.
Seasons 4 and 5: Online communities that helped people feel more connected and at home in a new place.
Season 6: Books that helped people understand the places they were living in.
Season 7: Conversations about learning languages other than Chinese.
Season 8: Coffee and the role it can play in connecting to a place.
Season 9: Podcasting globally: how it’s similar and different. And of course, how it can connect us to each other in our new culture.
Season 10: A mixed season covering music, photography, returning home, and other parts of life abroad.
Season 11: Immigrant kids who later became expats, exploring how growing up between cultures shaped the way they experienced living abroad as adults.
About Stephanie Fuccio: Serial Expat Since 2003
I’m Stephanie Fuccio. I’ve mostly been living and working outside the U.S. since 2003 and have lived in Asia, Latin America, and Europe during this time.
My own experiences with culture shock, identity, belonging, language, and building a life abroad shaped many of the questions behind Geopats Abroad.
The podcast grew from my curiosity about what helps people feel grounded in a new place, how we build connection far from where we started, and how living abroad changes the way we understand home, culture, identity, and ourselves.
Geopats is my ongoing archive of those conversations