How to Move Abroad: Because Getting There Starts With Getting Hired

I had cancer at thirty. I've navigated healthcare in two countries with that history, including a high-risk pregnancy in Switzerland that cost me nothing beyond my regular insurance premium.

This week I'm talking about what healthcare in Europe actually looks like — how most of Europe's systems work for legal residents, what makes Switzerland different, whether doctors speak English, and what to do about the gap between leaving your American coverage and getting onto a new system.

Also: if you've been telling yourself you can't move abroad because of your health situation — please listen to this one before you make that call. It might not be the barrier you think it is.

Here's the thing nobody says clearly enough: moving abroad is not opting out. You still file US taxes. You still carry that passport and get the face when someone finds out you're American. You still feel the dollar losing value in your actual bank account. You are still affected by what happens there.

This week I'm making the case for why your vote matters more from abroad than you might think ... and why five million Americans living outside the US not voting is one of the most quietly consequential political facts nobody talks about.

FVAP.gov — official government resource for overseas voters

Democrats Abroad

Republicans Overseas

Nobody wants to talk about taxes. Until the IRS sends them a letter, at which point everybody wants to talk about taxes very urgently.

This week I'm giving you the heads up before that happens. The basics of what Americans abroad actually need to know about US taxes — why you still have to file even when you live somewhere else, why you probably won't owe anything, what FBAR is and why the penalties for missing it are genuinely alarming, and what to do about your state taxes before you leave.

This is not tax advice. I am not a tax professional and I will tell you approximately forty times in this episode to hire one. But this is the awareness conversation that nobody is having clearly enough in the move abroad space and you deserve to know this stuff before it becomes a problem.

Important disclaimer: This episode is general awareness only. Please consult a qualified expat tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

Someone I know just got accepted into a Master's program in France. She's in her thirties. She's moving in September. And she is not doing this because she couldn't think of anything else — she's doing it because it is one of the smartest moves I've seen someone make in a long time.

This week I'm making the case for the student visa as a legitimate, strategic, completely underrated pathway for adults who want to move abroad. We're talking about what a student visa actually gives you, why earning a local degree dramatically changes your job prospects in that country, why you are not too old for this, and the practical things you need to research if you want to take this seriously.

Also: why the nineteen year old with the lanyard who lives in your imagination is not relevant to this conversation and needs to be evicted immediately.

This one is for the person who has been doing the work. Really doing it — hiring coaches, rewriting the resume, applying and applying and applying — and still not moving.

This week I'm talking about what's actually happening when the job-first strategy isn't working, why the problem is sometimes structural and not personal, and the questions worth sitting with honestly when you've been at this long enough that the effort and the results have completely stopped matching.

Also: the thing career coaches often don't say, why being on the ground changes everything, and why your first move doesn't have to be your forever move.

This is not a pep talk. It's a real conversation with someone who has been doing everything right and deserves an honest answer about why it might not be working.

My daughter has been in schools in two countries across three different systems — a bilingual Swedish-German private school in Vienna, a German-English bilingual private school in Switzerland, and next year the local Swiss public school. Every single one of those decisions was made deliberately, for specific reasons, with real trade-offs.

This week I'm talking about what I actually learned navigating school systems abroad — the real cost of international school versus local school, what the Swiss tracking system at grade six means and why it matters more than most expat content will tell you, and the questions you actually need to ask about your destination's school system before you move.

Also: what gifted identification in Austria taught us about Swiss education policy, and why we're moving our daughter to local school before sixth grade on purpose.

You have the plan. You have the country, the visa, the number, the Tuesday Test results. You know this works.

Now you have to tell people.

This week I'm walking through every type of person you're going to tell about your move abroad — the Catastrophizer, the Underminer, the one who makes it about themselves, the Unsolicited Expert, and the rare and precious Quiet Supportive One — and exactly how to handle each of them without abandoning your plan or your sanity.

Also: the partner conversation, the people who won't come around, and what you actually don't owe anyone an explanation for.

Spoiler: it's more than you think.

Conversation starters

You picked a country. Amazing. Now let's find out if it actually works.

Not the Instagram version — anyone can imagine themselves somewhere beautiful on a Saturday with a glass of wine and nowhere to be. The Tuesday version. The one where you need to buy toilet paper and find a dentist and figure out whether your visa actually works and whether you can afford to live there on your actual budget.

This week I'm walking you through the Tuesday Test — five questions that tell you whether your country works for your real life or whether you need to adjust one thing before you go any further.

Spoiler: it's almost always just one thing. And one thing is completely fixable.

AbroadAF app

Last week I made you cry. This week I'm giving you a break.

No frameworks, no heavy stuff, no seventeen-step process. Just the honest, slightly unhinged truth about why you're overcomplicating this — and the only three things you actually need right now to move this whole situation forward.

Spoiler: it's not a perfect plan. It's not a fully funded savings account. It's not a remote job and a signed lease and a detailed spreadsheet.

It's a country, a visa lane, and your actual number. That's it. We're covering all three and then I'm sending you away with exactly one thing to do this week.

You've got this. I promise you've got this. Now stop researching and let's actually move.

I found out I had breast cancer at thirty years old. That's the real reason I moved abroad — not the job offer, not the adventure. The diagnosis that made one day stop being an option.

This week I'm telling you the actual story. The cancer. The friends I lost. My best friend of twenty years I haven't spoken to in eleven. The moment every single time I say goodbye to my mom at the airport. The weight of being far from home when things go wrong.

And then I'm telling you why I'd do it again. Every single time.

This one is for the person who is scared and wanting out and feeling guilty about both. You're not crazy. You're not ungrateful. You're paying attention. And the life you want is more buildable than you think.