Meet Shayna Marie, a southern girl from the United States with whom I share a lot in common! Her focused area of studies in International Relations and Latin American Politics plus her courageous and risk taker personality pushed her to move toChina on a leap!

She never thought she would fall in love with China, literally and figuratively speaking! We expand on the dating scene in the country, particularly with locals and how does the language impacted her ability to meet people. She also shares howliving in China has changed her perceptions of the world and how it impacted her personal journey.

In this episode, you will get tips and advice for improving your learning curve of Mandarin and opportunities for foreigners to insert themselves in the culture that I was not aware of! Such as 潘家园(Pān jiāyuán), which is THE PLACE to go in Beijing that will make you feel free, connected and be almost “forced” to chat with the locals!

Please share this episode with a friend, and if you haven't doneyet, please subscribe to the podcast on

⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple Podcast

Follow me:

Instagram: ⁠⁠@inbetweenwithvzv⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠Veronika Z.V.⁠⁠

Guest medias:

Instagram:⁠ Shayna Marie

Meet Hattie Gordon, a blondie from the southwest in the UK! She is one of the many people I’ve met through Kade, who was my first guest on the show. She is also extremely creative and artistic, having launched her own brand of handcrafted earrings! (Tagged down below)

Hattie shares her experience of living in Beijing for many years and how she compares life there to now living in Shenzhen. From the challenges of making friends in a foreign country to actually creating meaningful relations, she expands on herpersonal strategies for meeting people and building friendship.

In this episode, you will learn the truth about the public bathrooms at the 胡同 (hútòng) in Beijing and what is the best nonvegetarian tofu dish you’ll ever taste! Which is called 麻婆豆腐 (Má pó dòufu), in case you are wondering.

Please share this episode with a friend, and if youhaven'tdone yet, please subscribe to the podcast on

⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple Podcast

Follow me:

Instagram: ⁠⁠@inbetweenwithvzv⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠Veronika Z.V.⁠⁠

Guest medias:

Instagram:⁠ Hattie Gordon

@hattiemaysclays (Jewelry brand)

Meet Kade Maijala, an American from Seattle, UnitedStates, who thought he would be in China for only a short term, but life had other plans for him! His opened minded approach and free spirit personality exposed him to many different experiences that he would never have thought of living if he stayed in the United States.

Kade is also one of my best friends here in China, andhaving the opportunity to sit down with him to share our views and opinions about this country was a great way to take our friendship to the next level and to kick off the podcast with a very insightful and fun interview!

In this episode, you will hear us tell interesting stories, share personal opinions and experiences; all with good humor, laughs and jokes. 

Please share this episode with a friend, and if you haven'tdone yet, please subscribe to the podcast on

Spotify or Apple Podcast

Follow me:

Instagram: ⁠@inbetweenwithvzv⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠Veronika Z.V.⁠

Guest medias:

Instagram: @kademaijala

LinkedIn: Kade Maijala

My very first podcast episode could not be any other type than a SOLO episode.

Here is where you will get to know me, Veronika, a Brazilian born that has made theworld her home. I share with you my background, my very first trip abroad, theexperience of leaving home at the age of 17 to pursue my dream in a foreigncountry and how I became the person I am today. You will get to know what hasmade me, me!

I also share the reasons I believe this podcast was necessary and why I decided tocreate it, a feeling that I have been putting aside for quite some time andthat I finally decided it was time to act on! I basically created this podcastin a way of fulfilling my own needs of connection, and that in return ended upbeing what everyone else like me needed as well…

I hope you can find community here. I hope you can fill inspired to take that first tripabroad. I hope you can find comfort and ease on the tough journey it is to bean individual in this world. I hope you can find likeminded people, andremember, that you are never alone.

From here or over there, we meet in between.

V.Z.V