The Expat Cast

Season 5, Episode 12. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  Today, we learn about Aachen! Lawin is from the Philippines. He's a fellow expat in Germany and a fellow podcaster, and he's been living in Aachen for two years now. He tells us all about living in walking distance to the Netherlands and Belgium - spoiler...

Season 5, Episode 11. Martina was born in the US to German parents who had most recently been living in Switzerland. When she was a baby, they moved back to Switzerland, then they relocated to the US for Martina's high school and college years. Now, Martina's living in Frankfurt, Germany in her 20s. Even though she's German, this is the first time in her life she's lived in Germany. We discuss wha...

Season 5, Episode 10. Stacey's had her California driver's license since she was a teenager, but it doesn't get her far in Germany. Once you move to Germany, you have 3 years to convert your license to a German license, or you have to start over from square one.  For Nicole, from Pennsylvania, a state with license reciprocity with Germany, it was a one-time visit to city hall and a 35€ fee. For St...

Season 5, Episode 9. She's lived in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, the UK, South Africa, Thailand, Zanzibar, Austria, and now, Germany. Tania gets lost keeping track of everywhere she's lived! She craves stability, yet at the same time, she can't imagine not moving again soon. Tania's expat history has made her very resourceful, creative, and flexible - all traits that make her a great entrepreneur. She...

Season 5, Episode 8. Whether he's living in Belgium, the Netherlands, China, or Germany, Claudio manages to find Italy everywhere he goes. He's from a tiny village in northern Italy that's got more sheep and cows than people, and although he hasn't lived there in decades, it is his heritage. It is his home. Claudio shares why and how he honors his Italian heritage, be it through food or people or...

Season 5, Episode 7. Kate is from southwestern Germany and moved to Chicago, around the same time that Nicole moved from Chicago to southwestern Germany. The two connect on Instagram years back, and Kate was one of Nicole's first guests back in season one . Now, Kate's back to share how her career, life, and family has grown since then. Kate's now a mom, and she and her husband ended up moving bac...

Season 5, Episode 6. So many of us move abroad without knowing anyone else who's done a big move like that. We struggle to find expat role models at the beginning, and usually end up with authors, characters, or friends as role models. Reina was the first female in her tight-knit family to move abroad. It was hard to break the news to her family, and when she was adjusting to life in her new home...

Season 5, Episode 5. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  Today, we learn about Dessau! Inna Koblents is from the Ukraine and lived in Italy before relocating to Dessau on a special visa for Jewish immigrants from former Soviet countries. She'd never heard of Dessau before the opportunity came up, but in her two...

Season 5, Episode 4. Rachel hosts the Meet the Germans series with Deutsche Welle, where she shares videos about current events and German culture in English through her perspective as a foreigner in Germany.  Rachel moved from the UK to Germany in her 20s, and now that she's in her early 30s, she's in a much different place in life than she was back when she moved. The German culture encourages t...

Season 5, Episode 3. Ever since Nicole arrived in Germany, she kept seeing a book series with cool hipster graphics and titles like "How to Be German in 50 Easy Steps" everywhere in her expat life. They were funny observations about Germans from the views of a British immigrant. As if a cool cover and relatable content wasn't enough, the books were BILINGUAL! Meaning they were also good for practi...

Season 5, Episode 2. Since the start of 2020, the United States has provided a seemingly endless onslaught of scary and sad news that's continued and gotten even worse in 2021. From Coronavirus killing hundreds of thousands, to Black Live Matters protests that were met by police violence, to the 2020 presidential election, and now a terrorist mob staging an insurrection in the capital, it has been...

Season 5, Episode 1. It's the season 5 premier! After a couple months off to recoup, The Expat Cast is back with a new website and a fantastic guest to kick things off: Hannah from Travels by Teslin. The two talked in mid-December 2020 while Hannah was quarantining in her home country of Canada. Hannah has been living in Hamburg, Germany for 7 years now. Her move was inspired by love, but even whe...

SEGEPADFO. Happy Christmas! We're celebrating with the launch of SEGEPADFO: the Second Ever Germany Expat Podcasters Donation Face-Off. This year, Shaun and I are fundraising for Über den Tellerrand. We are thrilled to say that we collectively raised 410€, which was enough to enable Über den Tellerrand to finance the build of their portable kitchen! Which podcast raised the most money? Who raised...

SEGEPADFO. Happy fourth Advent Sunday! We're celebrating with SEGEPADFO: the Second Ever Germany Expat Podcasters Donation Face-Off. This year, Shaun and I are fundraising for Über den Tellerrand. In this episode, I give an update on who is in the lead and interview Philippa, a student in Freiburg who started joining the organization's events as a way to get to know new people in town.   MORE INFO...

SEGEPADFO. Happy third Advent Sunday! We're celebrating with SEGEPADFO: the Second Ever Germany Expat Podcasters Donation Face-Off. This year, Shaun and I are fundraising for Über den Tellerrand. In this episode, I give an update on who is in the lead, release the brand new SEGEPADFO jingle, written by Shaun and featuring backup vocals from yours truly, and attempt to trash talk using quotes from...

SEGEPADFO. Happy second Advent Sunday! We're celebrating with SEGEPADFO: the Second Ever Germany Expat Podcasters Donation Face-Off. This year, Shaun and I are fundraising for Über den Tellerrand. In this episode, I interview the head of Über den Tellerrand Freiburg to learn more about the group.   MORE INFORMATION thegermanyexperience.de/charity2020 Donate to the project here (Write in "The Expat...

SEGEPADFO. Happy first Advent Sunday! We're celebrating with the launch of SEGEPADFO: the Second Ever Germany Expat Podcasters Donation Face-Off. This year, Shaun and I are fundraising for Über den Tellerrand. In this announcement episode, we explain what the organization does, what project we're raising donations for, and how you can contribute to the cause.   MORE INFORMATION thegermanyexperienc...

Season 4, Episode 25. It's episode 100! The end of season 4! So many reasons to celebrate! To wrap up a season that ended up being released starting at the onset of a pandemic and seeing us all the way through to September, we hear from a variety of former guests, listeners, and expat friends from around Freiburg about who their expat/immigrant/nomad role model is. Be it the people mentioned in th...

Season 4, Episode 24. Nicole and Justin are two single Americans who have both been in Germany for about three years, and they're here to exchange their stories and perspectives on dating. Is it more effective to date in German or in English? Is it easier to date Germans or fellow internationals? What dating apps are common in Germany, and what is it like to use them? Are the gender roles differen...

Season 4, Episode 23. If you are a US citizen, even if you live abroad, you ARE eligible to vote. And you SHOULD vote. Candice works with Democrats Abroad Germany and Vote from Abroad . She's here to tell us how to vote from abroad, why to vote from abroad, and what deadlines to keep in mind. The important information she shares in the episode can be found here .   FIND DEMOCRATS ABROAD On their w...

Season 4, Episode 22. Mahdia left her hometown of Dhaka, Bangladesh when she was 19. Within a year, she'd settled into adulthood and expat life simultaneously in her new home of Wollongong, Australia. She loved her life, her friends, and most importantly, the person she'd become. When she moved back to Dhaka three years later, Mahdia quickly realized her new identity didn't quite fit in. As she'd...

Minisode. My summer vacation ended up consisting of me visiting friends in Cologne, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Because I was outside of German borders, I qualified for a free Coronavirus test upon my return. I share what my experience was like.   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram  @theexpatcast   Twitter  @theexpatcast  

Season 4, Episode 21. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  Today, we learn about Nuremberg! Shannon and her family have lived in Nuremberg twice now, and they have fallen in love with the city's charm. Through the years, she's gathered a slew of great travel tips, which you can find here .   CONNECT theexpatcast....

Season 4, Episode 20. Moving abroad means starting completely over from scratch. Career, friendships, belongings, culture, language - all of these things are gone or nearly gone when you move abroad. Yet somehow, at some point, expats/immigrants climb their way to the top and establish a life for themselves in all of these sectors. Mari is from Indiana, USA and moved to Germany. Not only does she...

Season 4, Episode 19. Mari is here to talk all things related to the foreign female experience in Germany. Originally from Estonia, Mari has lived in three European countries. Along with Nicole's American perspective, the two discuss their experience of being a woman in Germany from an outsider's point of view. Can a woman feel safe to walk home alone at night? Is there a form of sisterhood among...