Dear Expats

This time we continue experimenting with the new format and challenge the notion of immigration being a way of improving one’s live quality by giving a score to different aspects of our life. Tune in to hear our before/after marks for: - social life; - career perspectives; - mental health and freedom; - daily routine; - feeling of home. And share your before/after scores in the comments or via ema...

This time we try a new format, and instead of your letters we read the ones from our bank — aka go through our account statements to see, how our relationship with money changed in immigration. Tune in to learn about: - How much do you have to spend on groceries and transportation in Amsterdam - How our top spending categories changed - Taxes and another unexpected expenses we had - Do we manage t...

This turned out to be a rather slavic episode. But don’t worry if you are from other culture – as usual we cover the topics well recognisable by any immigrant, such as: - Having to spend more on essentials and struggling to find services you are used to; - Unexpected ways of finding friends when you’ve just moved; - Acquiring new personality when you move and hesitating to accept it. Write us you...

Jumping from country to country sounds exciting – until you realize you’re always starting over. In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to constantly move, miss the taste of your favorite products and celebrate holidays that don’t really feel like yours. How do you find comfort when the food, people, and even calendars feel foreign? And how do you build a life when your suitcase is always h...

What if the “better life” you built abroad starts to feel like hard mode?  Today’s topics: - moving to Barcelona without speaking the language (and crying in the rain about it) - rediscovering lightness in Asia after five heavy European years - why working in English sometimes feels like writing with someone else’s hands. When is it time to slow down? Can you reinvent your expat life without burni...

What is my tax id, where to buy a mop, how do I pay for my insurance? These are only the tip of the iceberg of questions immigration poses to us.  So this time we go deeper and ask ourselves: - How immigration changed our attitude to trains, airports and hotels? - Stages of adaptation to a new country and what we could have done differently? - Living in the Netherlands and never traveling abroad —...

Packing boxes, still being in love with the place you left and refusing the “expat” label? Same. In this episode, we try to stop moving, silence the nostalgia and escape that expat feeling. Grab your coffee (or wine) – we’re here for an honest talk. Thank you for staying with us, don’t forget to send us your letters to hello@dear-expats.com Our website: https://www.dear-expats.com/

Welcome back to the new episode of Dear Expats podcast! In this episode you’ll find: - Polina’s practical tips for learning foreign languages; - Reasons for Julia’s obsession with getting a cat; - Discussion on whether immigration spoils travelling for good. Thank you for staying with us, don’t forget to send us your letters to hello@dear-expats.com Our website: https://www.dear-expats.com/

Missing homemade food, complaints about everything – even the weather – and the chaos of long‑distance love: say hello to the second episode of Dear Expats! Today we chat about: - How to find new friends (and what to do if they move away); - What to tell colleagues who don’t like your new country; - And how to keep the rhythm when you and your partner live in different countries Be with us, stay w...

Episode 1 tackles the ugly truth of mice invasions, the art of reinventing yourself in a new place, and the fear of missing out on future opportunities. Send us your letters to hello@dear-expats.com Our website: https://www.dear-expats.com/