The Expat Cast

Season 4, Episode 10. When your extended family is split between two countries on two different continents, deciding where to root your own family is not easy. Throw in the complications brought to us by the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic, and the decision becomes nearly impossible to make.

Our guest today, Emily, has a family split between the US and Germany. Emily, her husband, their young daughter, and their pets are based in the States now, but have considered a move to Germany several times. How has the pandemic impacted their ideas, plans, and dreams? How does Emily prioritize choosing a location based on family proximity, on cultural connections, or on socioeconomic situations?

Referenced in this episode: Second Cheapest Wine skit from College Humor

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Season 4, Episode 9. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there. 

To kick it off, we're featuring the home of The Expat Cast: Freiburg. Located in southwest Germany on the edge of the Black Forest, 30 minutes from the Alsace in France and from Switzerland, this corner of the world is full of culture, food, wine, and seemingly endless nature to enjoy.

Get a full list of our recommendations here.

FIND JIBRAN

On YouTube @DesiInWonderland

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Season 4, Episode 8. Brandi decided to move on from her life in California. She sold most of her things, packed up her cat, and moved to Germany in the heat of summer. It was a one-way-ticket kind of move, an open-ended relocation. She'd start with German courses and go from there.

Nine months later, Brandi was back in the States. Life in Germany had become a struggle beyond what was acceptable.

Brandi is here to share with us how she came to recognize that her expat journey wasn't the story she was hoping for. Her experience was one of too many apartments, of suitcases scattered across a country, of half-job offers and no moment where everything fell into place. Things weren't working out, and her location became more and more vital as a global pandemic began to spread. As life took her in a direction that put expat life on hold, Brandi shares how she made peace with the events via recasting the story of her life in a new lens.

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Season 4, Episode 7. Ariane left Munich, Germany for Canada when she was a teenager, not realizing it would be a 30-year stay that would change her forever. Now back in Germany with her Canadian-German family, Ariane is a life coach specializing in cross-cultural creative clarity.

Creativity doesn't just have to reference pursuit of an artistic project. Creativity can also be found in how we live our lives - and expats know that well. Because the experience of living in a new country is so far outside the norm, expats have to use their creativity to forge a life that works for them. Ariane discusses how we can locate and own that creativity to live courageously.

REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE

The Germany Experience episode "The top 10 grossing German movies"

The Expat Cast episode "The Introverted Expat"

FIND ARIANE

On her website

On Instagram @der_ariane_faden

On LinkedIn under Ariane A. A. Schuessler

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Season 4, Episode 6. Nicole and Casey share their highs and lows of language learning. Both gals are Americans who grew up monolingual and scoffed at their attempts to learn a language in high school or college, but moving abroad gave them the motivation to learn German, for real this time. They share their frustrations, freak-outs, failures, and even the occasional success.

Highlights include Nicole inquiring how much it would cost to get her apartment petted, Casey exclaiming her excitement to go to the park to see the - er, male genitalia - and both of them delighting in the German language's descriptive naming tendencies (we're looking at you, River Horse).

If you're interested in tips for learning German, listen to the episode Learning German with Jenny.

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Season 4, Episode 5. Expat & life coach Julia inspired me with her blog post, "How to feel at home while you're abroad." Although "home" can seem like it's something that just exists, separate from us, home is actually a feeling created actively by an individual.

But how?

Julia and I map out various strategies that have worked for us to make us feel at home, no matter where we are in the world.

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Season 4, Episode 4. Coronavirus is a global pandemic that's got many of us trapped at home. Aspen and I team up to bring you a podcast/YouTube cross-over to help you find the good in this bad situation. Our status as expats in Germany has given us plenty of practice at maintaining relationships and creating a sense of community from afar, and we share our favorite tricks to feeling connected despite the distance.

 Check out the video of this collaboration on Aspen's YouTube channel here.

Read the blog post to find out more here.

FIND ASPEN

On YouTube at AspenAbroad

On Instagram @Aspen.Abroad

Our last episode together called Moving Abroad or Running Away?

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Season 4, Episode 3. Being in a cross-cultural relationship comes with many strengths and many challenges, especially if one partner moved to a new country and learned a new language to make the relationship work. This week's guest has lots of experience with that, both personally and professionally.

Katie Rössler is an expat couple's counselor. Working with couples in person and online, through sessions as well as online courses and guides, Katie helps her clients navigate the tricky waters of miscommunications, conflicting expectations, and more.

We discuss common isuses in relationships involving two or more cultures, and we also get into how couples and families can use the lock-down during Coronavirus to their advantage. Katie helps us reframe the situation as an opportunity and offers concrete ideas on how to succeed during quarantine.

This episode is a nice complement to the episode Intercultural Relationships.

For more resources, check out this blog post.

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Season 4, Episode 2. We dive into the topic of introversion with fellow introvert, fellow American living in Europe, and fellow podcaster Austyn from Expat Hour.

Although Austyn and Nicole fall on different places on the extrovert/introvert spectrum, we share a love for nights in, the fulfillment of reading a book or watching TV alone, and the joy of missing out, aka JOMO, on social events. We reflect on whether these introverted qualities make expat life easier or harder.

REFERENCED THIS EPISODE

The book "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking"

The Expat Cast episode, "Extroverted Entrepreneurial American Expat"

FIND AUSTYN

On her podcast @ExpatHour

On Instagram @expathour

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Season 4, Episode 1. We're back with season 4! And we're kicking it off by diving into the delightful world of American football in Germany.

Did you know that American football is played in Germany?

I didn't, and neither did today's guest, Nick Alfieri, until he got recruited by the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. Yes, you read that right, they're called the Unicorns. Yes, it's impossible to say that without smiling.

Nick's from Oregon, and he jumped at the chance to continue his football career after his college football career ended. He brought his other passion with him: film-making. In addition to playing for the Unicorns, Nick documents his experiences on his YouTube channel, and he's even made a documentary about American football in Germany.

Now, he's on The Expat Cast to tell us all about his experience as a Unicorn abroad.

Listen to the This American Life episode "The Show of Delights"

Check out the blog post about this episode.

FOLLOW NICK

On YouTube @NALF

On Instagram @nalfamale

Watch his video "Is it better to be in Germany or the USA right now?"

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