The Expat Repat Podcast

Katia is an experienced expat, coach and speaker. Her advice is essential for first time expats, seasoned expats and repeats alike. She walks you through the critical preliminary decision making stages using 5 core principles as guideposts. Katia and I talked about the best and worst ages to move with children, she shared with me her philosophy on the importance of the preliminary decision stage of a move - regardless of whether that is a move away from, or back to one's "home", and she shared with me her theory on what home means and why it's so important for each of us to really know what we're talking about when we talk about home.

You can learn more about Katia at her website: www.katiavlachos.com

And purchase her book here: https://amzn.to/2RIKgE5

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Read my blog, Swiss Lark: www.swisslark.com

If you have an idea for an episode, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email me on [email protected] or reach out on Twitter @expatrepat.

Consider becoming a Patreon member at www.patreon.com/expatrepat and don't forget to subscribe, rate AND review wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, share with your friends. Thank you for listening!

In this Mini, I read a blog post "Repat: Would Visits Be Enough?" that was published on my blog, Swiss Lark, on July 30, 2018. I chose this post for today because I'm actually feeling a great deal of trepidation regarding my upcoming visit to Zurich in January. I started a conversation about visits home as an expat, or visits back to our expat home as a repat, on Instagram. Given the responses and how this is such a clearly charged issue, this seemed like a good post to share in read-aloud story format. Enjoy!

So that we can stay connected between episodes, please:

Join the Expat Repat mailing list: https://forms.gle/6Y3644HCqaWCwBfA8

Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/expatrepat

Follow the Expat Repat Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/expatrepatpod/

Join the Expat Repat Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/expatrepat

Read my blog, Swiss Lark: www.swisslark.com

If you have an idea for an episode, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email me on [email protected] or reach out on Twitter @expatrepat.

Consider becoming a Patreon member at www.patreon.com/expatrepat and don't forget to subscribe, rate AND review wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, share with your friends. Thank you for listening!

Jessica Drucker went to study abroad in Costa Rica as a student at the University of Illinois and didn't return to live in the US for 15 years! During that time she lived in Guatemala, The UK, Germany and then spent 8 years traveling all over the world as a travel blogger.

When extenuating circumstances led to a hasty return to the US from Cusco, Peru, in 2014, Jessica found herself confronted with all sorts of American adulting that she had never known until that point. Getting an apartment, health insurance and even a phone were all new. However, within about six months, it hit her that she was back.

Through self-care, therapy and a lot of self-help, Jessica grew and attained the next level of herself and self awareness. She married, became a parent and wrote her first book, Why You Should Move Abroad and Why It's the Best Thing You'll Do, coming out in January 2020.

You'll love Jessica's earnest talk about what it means to come home, not only to your country, but to yourself.

Learn more about Jessica and her book at www.jessicadrucker.com

Resources from today's episode:

- Tara Brach www.instagram.com/tarabrach

- Psychology Today Therapist Finder www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

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Don't forget to share with your friends, and do subscribe, rate AND review wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening!

This week, I'm sharing with you a post from my blog, Swiss Lark, which Rhiannon referred to in last week's episode. Rhiannon described finding my blog during her repatriation like "finding a pot of gold!" and it was this post that I'm reading aloud for today's mini episode that she first found through a random Google search.

If you'd like to see the photos that accompany the post as well as all of my other posts from our time as expats, and since becoming repats, just go to www.swisslark.com

And if you're enjoying Expat Repat, please remember to subscribe, rate AND review! And consider joining our Patreon campaign. To learn more, just visit www.patreon.com/expatrepat Thank you so much for listening!

Rhiannon is an Australian-Swiss dual citizen who left the land down under to move to Switzerland directly after finishing school. Many years, a Swiss partner and some life experience later, she felt immense pressure to return to Australia and obtain a degree as she had always planned to do.

With a countdown set on her phone, Rhiannon enrolled in a midwifery course, and then for one reason and another, her repatriation ended up lasting way longer than she had originally planned. Because she had not expected for repatting to be so difficult or painful, Rhiannon took to the internet and happened upon my blog around three years ago. Thankfully for both of us, a virtual connection centered on a shared struggle was formed.

Rhiannon and I talked about how we get comfortable where we are and the reality of confronting what we must in turn give up when we make a move; she got into the nitty gritty of the comparison trap that is so impossible to avoid when first repatriating. And, finally, Rhiannon shared her best advice for expats preparing to repatriate back home, including what to do if you discover that moving back home wasn't the right move for you.

If you're enjoying Expat Repat and the show is worth a cup of coffee or a nice cocktail to you (and I think it probably is!) then please join our Patreon campaign. Just go to www.patreon.com/expatrepat to enroll. Thank you in advance!

And, if you're curious to see my blog after today's episode, just head on over to www.swisslark.com to read up on my time in Switzerland and to see all of my posts on repatriation.

Thank you so much for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, rate AND review wherever you get your podcasts!

Lindsey takes a trip down memory lane, looking at old videos and photos from their time in Switzerland. In doing so, she realizes that this is something she never does, and ponders why.

As expats and repats, we share many commonalities. One big one is that we learn to erase our expat lives after we return home. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you avoid photos and videos of your time abroad, too?

If you're enjoying The Expat Repat Podcast, please consider becoming a patron and making a monthly contribution to keep the show going. Learn more at www.patreon.com/expatrepat. Thank you so much for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. And share with your friends! 

Heather was an expat in Sweden for four years. She describes herself as a non-trailing spouse because while she was there she mastered the Swedish language and attained gainful employment in a Swedish public school. After settling in so soundly, Heather's world was rocked apart when her marriage dissolved and her expat adventure came to an abrupt end, just one year before she, her husband and her recently-turned-18 adult daughter would have been eligible for Swedish citizenship.

Heather was shocked to return to the US with a robust CV and have all of her valuable experience, not to mention language skills attained, completely overlooked by employers in the US. She took off on another expat adventure, this time to China, but due to health issues from the extreme pollution, had to return to the US after just four months.

Heather has worked hard to re-establish herself in the US and reworked her resume and LinkedIn profile to achieve success. Heather is refreshingly open about the grief and loss of repatriation and the ways that she has struggled to repatriate and move forward.

If you're enjoying Expat Repat, please consider becoming part of our Patreon campaign at www.patreon.com/expatrepat
Thank you so much for listening!

Introducing Expat Repat Mini Episodes! In this Mini, we take a look back at Season One, and also get a preview of Season Two. Don't miss the guest line-up as well as an explanation of how the Mini Episodes will be fun, entertaining and interactive, including your input!

As always, please subscribe, rate and review and don't forget to check out our Patreon campaign at www.patreon.com/expatrepat. Thank you for listening!

Luke Mitchell lived abroad for two years in Japan teaching English after college. Years later, he lived in Madrid for two summers, and then spent two years in Singapore. His repatriation experiences were so different, but the loss he had experienced after Japan made him hesitant to return to expat life.

Luke and I talked about the broken narrative that is expat life. We talked about how homesick he felt in Singapore and how difficult that experience was for him. And we talked about how leaving and living as an expat can leave you feeling left behind on the return.

Please remember to subscribe, rate and review on iTunes. And please consider joining our Patreon campaign. To learn more, please visit our website at www.expatrepat.ch. Thank you so much for listening!

Brynn Leavitt is a college sorority sister of mine who coincidentally wound up living abroad as well. We hadn't spoken since college, but I was so thrilled that this show actually connected us again when Brynn found the show after her return to The States following six wonderful years in Reading, England.

Brynn is a secondary teacher of Italian and French taking a sabbatical year to settle into their new life in the US and spend more time with their toddler son. As you can imagine, Brynn encountered many grand life changes all at once: moving back to the US from the UK; becoming a stay-at-home-mom; going from a denser urban space to a more suburban American neighborhood.

Brynn and I talked about the importance of remembering why you left your expat life when you decided to move home; about the tendency to keep things temporary - in big ways and in small - in case of another move; and we talked about the fact that almost all repats say they're going to move abroad again, but if we're really being honest with ourselves when we say that?