The Expat Pod

Summary:

Olivier Wagner shares his journey of living in different countries, including France, the US, Canada, and Mexico. He discusses his experiences studying in the US and the differences in campus life compared to France. Olivier also talks about his time in New York City and the cultural exposure he had there. He then shares his impressions of living in Canada, particularly in Montreal, and the cultural differences between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. Finally, he discusses his current experience in Mexico and the ease of travel and living there. In this conversation, James Doran discusses his experiences living abroad and the cultural differences he encountered. He talks about the differences between Canadian French and French from France, including the use of old words and literal translations from English. He also shares his thoughts on language evolution and the importance of being curious when living abroad. James provides advice for those considering living abroad, such as the benefits of moving to Quebec as a stepping stone into North America. He also discusses his business, 1040 Abroad, which helps Americans living overseas with their tax returns.

Takeaways

- Living in different countries provides unique cultural experiences and perspectives.

- Campus life in the US is different from Europe, with a focus on enclosed campuses and limited access to the city.

- New York City offers a diverse and international environment, with opportunities for cultural exploration.- There are cultural differences between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians.

- Mexico provides an open and welcoming environment for travelers and expats. Living abroad allows for a deeper understanding of cultural differences and perspectives.

- Canadian French differs from French spoken in France, with the use of old words and literal translations from English.

- Being curious is essential when living abroad, as it helps to navigate and appreciate new experiences.

- Moving to Quebec can be a good stepping stone for those interested in living in North America.

- 1040 Abroad provides tax return services for Americans living overseas and helps with compliance and renunciation of US citizenship.

Sound Bites

"I lived in France until 2004, then studied in Louisiana and worked in New York."

"I joined an accounting firm in Montreal and became a CPA."

"Mexico was open throughout COVID-19 and saw an opportunity in having foreigners stay."

"The melody was a way to cross off. It was quite a common one I used a lot."

"Sometimes you can say whether it's an old French word that they're still using. Sometimes you can say whether it's a literal English translation."

"I always feel that you speak your story, you speak English as a second language, especially from some parts of Europe. They speak American English."

1040abroad.com

Connect with Us:

Website: https://www.tallmantravels.co.uk/the-expat-pod

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089327439022

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.expat.pod/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExpatPod

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-expat-pod/

Subscribe, Rate, and Review:If you enjoyed this episode of The Expat Pod, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners like you and continue to deliver valuable content on life as an expat.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

11:26 Living and Working in Canada

33:52 Living Abroad and Language Differences

42:01 The Importance of Curiosity and Cultural Differences

51:09 Advice for Living Abroad and Moving to Quebec

56:03 Advice for Americans Living Abroad

01:04:03 1040 Abroad: Assisting Americans with Tax Returns

Welcome to another instalment of the Quick Fire Questions derivative of the podcast. In this shorter format, I ask my quest a handful of questions to which they share a quick answer in order to hopefully inspire some future expats to follow in their footsteps or at the very least be entertained by some of the great answers! 

Living Abroad Lightning Round:

00:00 Intro

00:24. What is your favourite place you've lived?

01:00. What is your favourite international food?

02:00. What is your favourite international tradition?

03:00. What is your favourite thing about living abroad?

04:00. What is your best homesickness remedy? 

05:00. What is the hardest thing about living abroad?

06:00. What is the best phrase you're learnt whilst living abroad?

07:00. What is the best way to make friends abroad? 

08:00. What is the best thing to do in your new city?

09:00. What is your best expat life hack?

Connect with Us:

Subscribe to our podcast!

Share your favourite expat stories on social media using #QuickFireAbroad

Title: The Expat Pod: Tracy Lamouri

Subtitle: Leaving Canada for a Mediterranean Adventure in Malta

Episode Number: 42

Release Date: [06/05/2024]

Duration: [00:57:10]

Welcome to The Expat Pod, the podcast where we explore the ins and outs of living abroad, embracing new cultures, and navigating life as an expat. I'm your host, James Doran, and today, we're diving into what it is like to move from North America to Malta in the Mediterranean!

Our Guest this week Tracy Lamouri shares her experience of being able to work remotely for her own company and how this enabled her and her husband to explore a life abroad.

Connect with Us:

00:00 Intro

01:50 Getting There

16:43 Being There

45:09 Review

Subscribe, Rate, and Review:

If you enjoyed this episode of The Expat Pod, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners like you and continue to deliver valuable content on life as an expat.

Welcome to another instalment of the Quick Fire Questions derivative of the podcast. In this shorter format, I ask my guests a handful of questions to which they share a quick answer to hopefully inspire some future expats to follow in their footsteps or at the very least be entertained by some of the great answers! 

Living Abroad Lightning Round:

00:00 Intro

00:32. What is your favourite place you've lived?

01:29. What is your favourite international food?

01:53. What is your favourite international tradition?

02:49. What is your favourite thing about living abroad?

03:20. What is your best homesickness remedy? 

04:49. What is the hardest thing about living abroad?

05:49. What is the best phrase you've learnt whilst living abroad?

06:53. What is the best way to make friends abroad? 

07:34. What is the best thing to do in your new city?

09:35. What is your best expat life hack?

Connect with Us:

Subscribe to our podcast!

Share your favourite expat stories on social media using #QuickFireAbroad

Welcome to another instalment of the Quick Fire Questions derivative of the podcast. In this shorter format, I ask my guest a handful of questions to which they share a quick answer to hopefully inspire some future expats to follow in their footsteps or at the very least be entertained by some of the great answers! 

Living Abroad Lightning Round:

00:00 Intro

00:35. What is your favourite place you've lived?

01:03. What is your favourite international food?

02:04. What is your favourite international tradition?

02:58. What is your favourite thing about living abroad?

03:45. What is your best homesickness remedy? 

04:26. What is the hardest thing about living abroad?

05:08. What is the best phrase you've learnt whilst living abroad?

05:43. What is the best way to make friends abroad? 

06:25. What is the best thing to do in your new city?

07:15. What is your best expat life hack?

Connect with Us:

Subscribe to our podcast!

Share your favourite expat stories on social media using #QuickFireAbroad

Title: The Expat Pod: Peter Banigo

Subtitle: Moving to the UK & Turkey from Nigeria

Episode Number: 40

Release Date: [22/04/2024]

Duration: [00:49:07]

Welcome to The Expat Pod, the podcast where we explore the ins and outs of living abroad, embracing new cultures, and navigating life as an expat. I'm your host, James Doran, and today, we're diving into the life of Peter Banigo who is a Nigerian entrepreneur who moved to the UK to pursue a Master's in Coventry whilst keeping his online business growing in his home country. After graduating Peter spent some time living in Istanbul before moving back to the UK and relocating the HQ of his online business.

Connect with Us:

00:00 Intro

01:19 Getting There

13:40 Being There

35:31 Review

Subscribe, Rate, and Review:

If you enjoyed this episode of The Expat Pod, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners like you and continue to deliver valuable content on life as an expat.

Welcome to another instalment of the Quick Fire Questions derivative of the podcast. In this shorter format, I ask my guest a handful of questions to which they share a quick answer to hopefully inspire some future expats to follow in their footsteps or at the very least be entertained by some of the great answers! 

Living Abroad Lightning Round:

00:00 Intro

00:48. What is your favourite place you've lived?

01:49. What is your favourite international food?

02:46. What is your favourite international tradition?

03:27. What is your favourite thing about living abroad?

04:20. What is your best homesickness remedy? 

05:05. What is the hardest thing about living abroad?

05:48. What is the best phrase you've learnt whilst living abroad?

06:23. What is the best way to make friends abroad? 

06:55. What is the best thing to do in your new city?

07:33. What is your best expat life hack?

Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sean-Bw-Parker/e/B06XZ76F5Y%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Latest album, Caucasian Nights: https://open.spotify.com/album/4SJMGGgVFOYm2YyUZFf8wu

Saatchi Art page: https://www.saatchiart.com/seanbwparker

Connect with Us:

Subscribe to our podcast!

Share your favourite expat stories on social media using #QuickFireAbroad

Title: The Expat Pod: Sean BW Parker

Subtitle: 10 years in the Istanbul art scene

Episode Number: 39

Release Date: [15/04/2024]

Duration: [00:46:53]

Welcome to The Expat Pod, the podcast where we explore the ins and outs of living abroad, embracing new cultures, and navigating life as an expat. I'm your host, James Doran, and today, we're diving into the art scene in Istanbul and what it is like to leave the UK post higher education to scratch the itch of curiosity around living in a Muslim country to expand one's horizons.

Sean Bw Parker (MA) is a British artist, musician and writer specialising in art, cultural theory and justice reform. He has published a number of books and albums, won several awards – including Koestler Arts platinum for play The Wolfstadt-Wire (2020) and Compelling Speech - The Stammering Enigma (2023) - and gave a TED talk in 2013. He holds Masters and BA degrees in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey, and worked for ten years in Istanbul as a musician and teacher, until 2014.

He has given talks at Istanbul University, Kadir-Has University, University of Bristol, Bristol BIMM and Brighton Science Festival amongst other venues, and has been published in Time Out Istanbul, Louder Than War, The Monument Fellowship, The Epoch Times, TS Eliot Foundation, CIEO, New Thinking, STAMMA, Cosmopolitan and in two Westminster Commission reports. He has appeared on Talk Radio Live, NTV Turkey, Rise TV, BBC Radio Wales, in documentaries by Richard Vobes, Dogs On The Run films, Sky Arts, and on a number of podcasts. He has interviewed Ed Harcourt, Kristin Hersh, Julie Burchill, Danny Macnamara, Garry Bushell and Ian Broudie among other musicians and writers, was a music columnist for Turkish magazine the Multicultural Guide, and ran the Seafish music and arts venue on the Sussex coast in 2016. He was born in Exeter in 1975.

Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sean-Bw-Parker/e/B06XZ76F5Y%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Latest album, Caucasian Nights: https://open.spotify.com/album/4SJMGGgVFOYm2YyUZFf8wu

Saatchi Art page: https://www.saatchiart.com/seanbwparker

Connect with Us:

00:00 Intro

00:45 Getting There

07:34 Being There

35:22 Review

Subscribe, Rate, and Review:

If you enjoyed this episode of The Expat Pod, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners like you and continue to deliver valuable content on life as an expat.

Welcome to another instalment of the Quick Fire Questions derivative of the podcast. In this shorter format, I ask my quest a handful of questions to which they share a quick answer to hopefully inspire some future expats to follow in their footsteps or at the very least be entertained by some of the great answers! 

Living Abroad Lightning Round:

00:00 Intro

00:35. What is your favourite place you've lived?

01:24. What is your favourite international food?

02:16. What is your favourite international tradition?

03:24. What is your favourite thing about living abroad?

04:13. What is your best homesickness remedy? 

05:30. What is the hardest thing about living abroad?

06:39. What is the best phrase you've learnt whilst living abroad?

07:28. What is the best way to make friends abroad? 

08:35. What is the best thing to do in your new city?

09:10. What is your best expat life hack?

Connect with Us:

Subscribe to our podcast!

Share your favourite expat stories on social media using #QuickFireAbroad