Moving to a new country is an emotional, psychological, and cultural upheaval. In this episode, Korean‑Canadian entrepreneur Monica Hyang-sil Chang shares her powerful story of rebuilding her identity after immigrating from Korea, to Toronto, Canada, to Marin County in California.

This episode is for anyone searching for belonging, rebuilding identity after migration, or learning how to stay grounded while living far from home.

Monica opens up about the pressure many Asian women feel to 'fit the box,' the stereotypes she pushed against, and what it meant to become one of the only Korean women running a food business in her region. We explore the real challenges of loneliness, homesickness, culture shock, and the mental health impact of starting over in a new country — experiences familiar to immigrants, expats, and anyone navigating life abroad.

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Life abroad can stretch you, soften you, and sometimes drain you in ways you didn’t expect. In this episode, I’m sharing five clear signs that your expat life — or the spaces you’re in — are costing you too much emotionally, and what it looks like to take your power back without abandoning yourself.

If you’re an expat or immigrant woman navigating homesickness, isolation, microaggressions, shrinking to fit in, or feeling invisible, this conversation will help you name what’s happening and decide what you need next.

We talk about:

• the quiet ways you start shrinking to stay accepted
• feeling depleted after every interaction
• performing gratitude instead of being honest
• the emotional cost of staying in rooms that don’t see you
• how to choose spaces that let you be present, not disappear

I also share a personal story from my own life in the U.S. — a moment when I stayed in a difficult space, why I made that choice, and what I learned about belonging, boundaries, and self‑trust.

I also share a personal story from my own life in the U.S. — a moment when I stayed in a difficult space, why I made that choice, and what I learned about belonging, boundaries, and self‑trust.

This episode is for the woman abroad who keeps asking:
“Do I matter here? Can I belong here and still be myself?”

If this speaks to you, follow The Places We Call Home on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave a 5‑star review so I know these conversations are meeting you where you are.

If you moved to the USA for love and now find yourself homesick, lonely, overwhelmed, or wondering who you’re becoming, this episode is for you.

So many expat and immigrant women arrive with hope — then quietly struggle with the emotional cost of life in a new country.

In this conversation you'll look through the eyes of guest Monica Hyang-sil Chang. Hear what’s actually possible for you, even if right now you feel disconnected, unsure of yourself, or guilty for not loving your new life yet.

You’ll hear the emotional truths we don’t say out loud: the grief attached to leaving home, the pressure to “be grateful,” the loneliness that surprises you, and the identity shifts that happen when you build a life around someone else’s roots.

We explore:

• why moving abroad for love brings its own kind of homesickness
• the isolation that shows up when you don’t have your own community
• how to rebuild confidence and identity in a new country
• what it looks like to create belonging from scratch, and
• the possibilities that open when you stop blaming yourself for struggling

If this is your reality, remember that you’re in that process of figuring it out, you're allowed to be tender, messy, and brave. You're not behind, you’re not failing, and you’re not alone.

If this resonates, follow The Places We Call Home on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave a 5‑star review so we know these conversations are supporting you.

In this episode, Monica Hanksel Chang opens up about moving from Korea to Canada to the U.S., navigating bias, reinvention, and the quiet work of belonging.

From building a restaurant to rebuilding her life in California, her story speaks to expat and immigrant women searching for community, confidence, and a sense of home in a new country.

When you move abroad, especially to the USA, imposter syndrome can show up in ways you never expected.

In this episode, I sit down with Zainab Ugokwe — scientist, mom, wife — a woman whose story will feel familiar if you’ve ever tried to rebuild your identity in a new country.

Zainab talks about returning to the U.S. after spending her childhood in Palestine, navigating homesickness, cultural differences, and the quiet grief of absent relatives in Palestine, and in the USA. She shares what it was like to grow up as the only Black girl in a town that had never seen people who looked like her, and how those early experiences shaped her confidence as an adult.

We explore:

• what imposter syndrome looks like for expat and immigrant women
• the identity shifts that happen when you move abroad
• the loneliness of feeling “in‑between” cultures
• how to rebuild confidence when you don’t feel like yourself anymore
• the emotional work of belonging in a place that wasn’t part of your original story

If you’re an expat or immigrant woman living in the USA or anywhere abroad — navigating loneliness, cultural differences, or that unsettling feeling of not belonging here or back home — this conversation will meet you right where you are.

Zainab’s reflections offer gentle reminders and practical takeaways about finding your voice again, trusting who you’re becoming, and giving yourself permission to grow into this new version of you.

If this episode resonates, follow The Places We Call Home on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and share it with another woman who’s starting over in a new country.

The moment you move abroad, something shifts — in your body, in your identity, in the way you see yourself. In this episode, I’m sharing three things that happen the moment you leave home for a new country, especially if you’re an expat or immigrant woman starting over in the USA.

These are the parts no one prepares you for: the sudden loneliness, the unexpected softness, the way your confidence wavers and rebuilds itself. If you’ve ever felt like you “should be handling this better,” this episode will help you understand why you feel the way you do — and why nothing is wrong with you.

We talk about:

• the emotional shock of landing in a new country
• the identity unraveling that happens before you rebuild
• the loneliness that shows up even when you’re “excited”
• how to give yourself permission to grow slowly

This episode is for the woman who moved abroad and suddenly feels like a stranger to herself — the woman who’s trying to make friends, find her footing, and understand who she’s becoming in this new place.

If this resonates, follow The Places We Call Home on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and share it with someone who’s navigating their own beginning abroad.

There’s one thing that makes life abroad feel heavier than it needs to be — and most expat and immigrant women don’t realize they’re doing it.

In this episode, I talk about the quiet habit that drains your confidence, deepens your homesickness, and makes every part of starting over in a new country feel harder.

It’s something I’ve done myself, especially in my early years in the USA. It shows up in the way you speak, the way you shrink, the way you second‑guess your instincts. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

I explore:

• the subtle ways you disconnect from yourself after moving abroad
• why this habit makes loneliness and isolation worse
• how it affects your friendships, your voice, and your sense of belonging
• what changes when you stop performing and start telling the truth
• how to rebuild trust with yourself in a new country

If you’re an expat or immigrant woman navigating homesickness, identity shifts, or the pressure to “fit in,” this episode will help you understand why you feel so stretched — and what it looks like to come back to yourself.

Life abroad is hard enough. You don’t need to carry this extra weight.

If this resonates, follow The Places We Call Home on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and share it with someone who’s rebuilding their life in a new place.

What does it really mean to start over in a country where no one knows your story?

In this episode, you’ll hear Ghirmay’s journey — a true immigrant story of arriving in the USA with no English, no family, and no way to return home. Eighteen years later, he has built a life through resilience, homesickness, loneliness, fear, and pure determination.

This is the unglamorous side of life in the USA:
washing dishes, attending ESL classes, navigating culture shock, and slowly shaping a new identity far from where your story began. It’s the slow victories, the setbacks, the pride, and the psychological weight of moving abroad alone.

If you’ve ever felt like you were beginning again — in a new country or in a new chapter of your life — his story will stay with you.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• building a life from scratch when nothing is handed to you
• living with the uncertainty of not knowing if you’ll ever go back home
• finding identity, stability, and belonging far from where your story began

Follow the show for weekly episodes about moving abroad, expat life, homesickness, belonging, and the tools and stories that help you find your voice as an expat woman.

What would make someone walk 2,000 miles — not once, but three times?

For Tim Scott, it was one thing: getting back to the woman he loved in Mexico and to the children waiting for him on the other side of the border.

Tim didn’t grow up with safety. He didn’t grow up with stability. He came from an abusive home, left Virginia with almost nothing, and found himself learning a new language, navigating unfamiliar foods, and trying to build community in a place where he had no roadmap. But he kept walking — across states, across borders, across fear — because he had finally found something worth choosing: a Mexican woman who loved him, and the family he never had growing up.

This is not a movie plot. It’s the real story of an American expat who rebuilt his life through courage, grit, and love. It’s about survival, identity, and the determination it takes to start over in a country we're told locals are fleeing from.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• how the Army and relocating helped Tim choose a different future
• the 2,000‑mile journey that reshaped his sense of purpose
• how love, family, and belonging became his compass

This story is for anyone who has ever had to start again — anyone who has crossed borders, rebuilt their identity, or chosen a life that looked nothing like the one they came from.

Follow The Places We Call Home for more true stories about expat life, human spirit, courage, resilience, hope, real love, belonging, immigration, identity, and the emotional work of creating a life in a place that didn’t raise you

Moving abroad doesn’t just change your address — it changes you.

In this episode, I talk about the tension between fitting in and staying true to yourself, the culture shock that hits long after you arrive, and the slow, often invisible process of rebuilding your sense of belonging. These are the parts most “moving abroad” lists never mention — the internal unraveling, the rebuilding, and the becoming.

You’ll walk away with:

• three questions to help you reconnect with the person you’re becoming
• a grounded understanding of how moving abroad reshapes who you are

If you’re planning to move abroad in 2026, already living overseas, or somewhere in the messy middle of starting over, this conversation gives words to the things you’ve felt but haven’t known how to name.

Follow the show and share it with someone navigating their own version of beginning again.