International Love Story

This episode is all about the journey of making friends in a new country. It's like dating, but with the added challenge of different cultures, languages, and new places. Sarah, a friendship coach, shares easy ways to meet people and keep friendships strong overseas. She talks about the need to reach out first, giving tips to fight feeling lonely and make real friends. Her move from Germany to...

In this insightful episode, we delve into Amel's experiences as an expat spouse. She opens up about the emotional and practical challenges of suspending her career for family commitments. Amel speaks on the issues of financial dependence and identity loss, common among women in similar situations. Advocating for empowerment and choice, she shares her mission for better support and regulations....

In this episode we meet Clarisse - a French language instructor who currently resides in Barcelona, Spain. Clarisse reflects on her life in various countries, including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan - where she met her partner and began her journey towards multiculturalism. With a focus on language and culture, Clarisse shares her insights on adapting to new backgrounds, overcoming language bar...

Meet Surbhi (India) and Dario (Italy). They share a unique love story that began at her birthday party in Switzerland. As a plant molecular biologist and a nuclear fusion engineer, they navigated through cultural and language differences with humor and heart. Their journey, from a chance meeting in Switzerland to a long-distance relationship and embracing each other's cultures, culminates in their...

Meet Anke (Germany) and André (Brazil). Their German-Brazilian relationship journey. They discuss the excitement and challenges of blending cultures, adapting to life in Germany, and overcoming language barriers. Their love story, originating from a cooking class, unfolds into a life filled with diverse traditions and a unique family dynamic, providing a realistic look at intercultural relationshi...

Meet Melanie (Germany). Back in 2015, Esmat (Iran) came to Germany as a refugee, and that's when their story started. But the real special part of their love story began a few years later when she found out she was going to be a mom. That's when things really took off! Over the last few years, they've faced and overcome a bunch of challenges together. One big challenge was dealing with...

Meet Mareike (German) and Kim (German), two sisters who have embarked on a journey of intercultural relationships. Mareike is married to a Spanish-Venezuelan, and Kim is married to an Italian. In this episode, they will share the intricacies of blending families and raising children while embracing diverse backgrounds. They have truly forged a strong bond as sisters, not just through blood, but by...

Join us for the captivating continuation of Brune and Mahmood's love story! In this exciting second part, we delve into their emotions after the Sheik's surprising revelation about his uncertainties regarding their marriage. The primary concern for the Sheik was Brune not being a Muslim. During a heartfelt conversation, Mahmood earnestly tried to convince the Sheik while Brune remained in...

Meet Brune (France) and Mahmood (Yemen). They met through an app during COVID, randomly connecting around the world. Their calls piled up, and they fell for each other. But when they tried to see each other for the first time, it was not easy at all: Yemen's war and cultural differences made it tricky. And adding to this Brune's family was accepting, but Mahmood's mom was hesitant. Eventually, the...

Join Gabriella, a Hungarian psychologist, and Rakesh, an Ayurveda doctor from India, on their inspiring intercultural journey. As they complete their studies and embark on their careers in Hungary, they navigate cultural shocks and find love at first sight during a public talk on Ayurveda. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriella and Rakesh stay connected through meditation and b...

Christelle and James's love story is a testament to the power of shared passions, deep conversations, and taking risks in love. Despite living miles apart, their connection blossomed through Twitter, fueled by their love for writing and common authors. Their first meeting in Montreal was an instant success, cementing their bond and sparking a commitment to regular meetups. Overcoming distance...

In this podcast episode, Julie, a French woman living in Singapore, and Sykes, a Filipino living in Manila, share their story of how they met in the Philippines. Julie was in Manila for an internship when she met Sykes at a co-working space where they both worked. They started as friends, bonding over cultural experiences like visiting churches during Holy Week. They discovered differences in dati...

Violeta shares her International Love Story and her life in China, highlighting her multicultural background and unexpected marriage to a Chinese man. She discusses how her interest in China grew during college, leading her to an exchange program in Beijing. Violeta talks about her experiences meeting people from different countries, falling in love with Chinese culture, and eventually finding a j...

We're back, at least for this episode. Nacho and I sat down to summarize our past few months. Sometimes we wonder how we got here. From dating on distance to moving into my parent's house to moving into 5 square meters, working as a freelancer and starting a new job in a German start-up, it definitely never gets boring. Listen to our journey. In the end of our conversation, we're answering some qu...

Meet Zuzana. She moved to Africa with her ex-husband 12 years ago [02:12]. Today she lives in Zambia with her husband Chris and their child. We talk about why she fell in love with Zambia [12:15], how she met Chris [09:59] and why there are stereotypes on both sides [48:15]. We also learn why Zuzana only learned to have a healthy relationship thanks to Chris. As always, advice is shared at the end...

Meet Gabriela. Gabriela is originally from Chile. Today she lives in Spain with her Austrian husband. Over the years, she has moved several times, lived in different countries and experienced different cultures. Today, as a psychologist, she helps individuals who are in a multicultural relationship to understand the cultural differences and gives new impulses for a healthy relationship. In this ep...

Meet Mariannke. In this episode we talk about the hurdles of emigration. Mariannke moved from the Netherlands to Brazil 6 years ago. It wasn't until 2021, 5 years after migrating, that she started to feel comfortable. With the decision to move to Brazil, she had the rose-colored glasses on. However, she soon realized that life in Brazil was more difficult than she had thought. Marianneke says that...

Meet Wiebke. Wiebke spent 22 years living abroad and felt at home in six different countries. She supports global nomads and expats in mastering the often underestimated and unexpected challenges of living abroad and returning home. Cultural shock can have a big impact on your daily life in a foreign country - event though when moving back home you might experience it. In this episode, we will tal...

Meet Janine (Germany) From a 4-year long-distance relationship to moving to Namibia, it's been a long road for Janine and her boyfriend Martin. In this episode, you'll learn how and why Janine adapted to Namibia in a short time, what hurdles she had to overcome, and why a routine is important. We talk about her future plans and her current visa situation. For Janine, it is clear that she wants to...

Meet Liz (Austria) and Shane (China) Liz has always been fascinated by the Chinese culture and language. Already at the age of 12 she learned Chinese for a bit. Later, she was able to do an internship abroad in Shanghai. Her time in China was better than she could have imagined. So when her visa expired, she just left her suitcase with her host mom, with the plan to come back very soon. And indeed...

Meet Itzi (Mexico) and Brice (France)   They met in DC in 2017, felt in love and  made it work. With the election of Donald Trump in the beginning of 2017, Itzi and Brice suddenly had to fight against windmills. In Itzi's words: "As an undocumented, then DACA recipient, living in the United States, I once lived a life full of a lot of uncertainty". This is one of the reasons why they dec...

Meet Kyomi (Peru) and Leo (France)   In October 2019 Leo decided to travel to Latin America, on his own. In preparation, he signed in an application to find a Tandem-Partner in order to learn Spanish. So it didn’t take long, and he started to chat with Kyomi. Kyomi is from Peru and after 3 months of texting and communicating he decided to fly to Peru. His idea was to spend a couple of months...

Meet Carolyn (American) and Telwin (Indian) Carolyn and Telwin met through a dating app. In fact, it wasn't supposed to come to a match at all. Telwin was looking for a serious relationship and was specifically looking for a partner for life with an Indian background [03:18]. Nevertheless, the paths of the two crossed and their relationship initially started as a friendship. However, this friendsh...

Meet Sierra (US) and Tewabe (Ethiopia)   Sierra and Tewabe met End of 2017 in Ethiopia,  Sierra helped with excavations at the Sudanese border as part of her archaeology studies [9:51].   Tewabe was part of the group of the Ethiopian students and this is how they started working together and digging in the dirt - as they describe it. After some time they started communicating a...

Meet Sofie (Denmark) and Bismark (Ghana). They met each other in Ghana when Sofie did an exchange. Dating someone was the last thing she thought was going to happen. But Bismark put a lot of effort to get to know her. And it worked! One year after interviewing them for the podcast, I got the chance to chat with them again. Both are working hard on their professional career and on their relationshi...