The Expat Cast

Season 4, Episode 18. Meg is a love expat - she moved to Freiburg, Germany from South Carolina, USA to be with her German then-girlfriend, now-wife. From the southern US to southern Germany, she shares what it's been like for her being queer.  What kinds of encounters has she had because of her queer identity? Can she and wife hold hands and kiss in public? What is the queer community like in Germ...

Season 4, Episode 17. Germany was supposed to be a temporary stop on a longer journey of living abroad for Natalie , from the UK, and her husband Conrad, from Germany. Then, months before their wedding, weeks before her birthday, and days before Christmas, Natalie got diagnosed with cancer. The cancer diagnosis changed her life dramatically, immediately, and, in some ways, permanently. Natalie wen...

Season 4, Episode 16. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  In this episode, Stefanie from the episode Austria v Germany is back to tell us all about her new home city. Not only is Stuttgart the capital of Baden-Württemberg; it also is the center of Schwabian culture, responsible for such beloved things like Käses...

Season 4, Episode 15. Nicole recently discovered solo travel, and she chats about it with Zoe, a seasoned solo traveler who has done longer trips across Europe, South America, and southeast Asia all by herself. They discuss the benefits of traveling alone, but they also acknowledge the challenges, and they share their tips for things like loneliness and safety, especially as young female travelers...

BONUS CONTENT. After the George Floyd protests, the Carl Schurz Haus in Freiburg hosted an online panel discussion with five Americans living in Germany about the state of America and their experiences with racism. It was moderated by Nicole, the host of The Expat Cast. The audio version of the panel is being re-broadcast here on The Expat Cast on the 4th of July intentionally. As panelist Jorrell...

Season 4, Episode 14. Getting divorced abroad is complicated and challenging in just about every imaginable way, and Katia Vlachos is here to talk to us about it all. Katia, a longtime expat, got divorced from her Austrian husband in Switzerland. She shares what she learned through the challenging process. For more about Katia's experience and the resources she mentioned, head over to the blog .  ...

Season 4, Episode 13. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  Tessa and Lauren are two Americans who both moved to Görlitz, a small city where you can stroll on over a bridge and find yourself in Poland. Görlitz is small but mighty, because it's actually the largest city in Germany to not be bombed in World War 2. I...

Season 4, Episode 12. Nicole and Shaun are two white expat podcasters who live in Germany. Nicole is from the US, and Shaun is from South Africa. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the two come together to share their reactions and actions about racism, as white people, as podcasters, as expats in Germany, and as people from countries with significant racially unjust histories. For a list...

Season 4, Episode 11. For DIY expats like your host, Nicole, the world of the relocatoin industry is truly magical. For expats who move for jobs, this topic might be more familiar. Sheanne works in the relocation industry, and she gives insider information on how to maximize your relocation package.   FIND SHEANNE On her website On Instagram @MigrantMamaAU Listen to her podcast, Migrant Mama in Au...

There is no new episode of The Expat Cast this week. As an American living abroad, I cannot stand beside my fellow Americans in protest of police violence and racism in the United States. But that's no excuse to do nothing. I'm donating my Coronavirus stimulus money to various organizations that work to end racial discrimination and support black communities. I'm committing time to continuing to e...

Season 4, Episode 10. When your extended family is split between two countries on two different continents, deciding where to root your own family is not easy. Throw in the complications brought to us by the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic, and the decision becomes nearly impossible to make. Our guest today, Emily , has a family split between the US and Germany. Emily, her husband, their young daugh...

Season 4, Episode 9. In the Travel Germany series, different places across Germany are featured in interviews with expats who relocated there.  To kick it off, we're featuring the home of The Expat Cast: Freiburg. Located in southwest Germany on the edge of the Black Forest, 30 minutes from the Alsace in France and from Switzerland, this corner of the world is full of culture, food, wine, and seem...

Season 4, Episode 8. Brandi decided to move on from her life in California. She sold most of her things, packed up her cat, and moved to Germany in the heat of summer. It was a one-way-ticket kind of move, an open-ended relocation. She'd start with German courses and go from there. Nine months later, Brandi was back in the States. Life in Germany had become a struggle beyond what was acceptable. B...

Season 4, Episode 7. Ariane left Munich, Germany for Canada when she was a teenager, not realizing it would be a 30-year stay that would change her forever. Now back in Germany with her Canadian-German family, Ariane is a life coach specializing in cross-cultural creative clarity. Creativity doesn't just have to reference pursuit of an artistic project. Creativity can also be found in how we live...

Season 4, Episode 6. Nicole and Casey share their highs and lows of language learning. Both gals are Americans who grew up monolingual and scoffed at their attempts to learn a language in high school or college, but moving abroad gave them the motivation to learn German, for real this time. They share their frustrations, freak-outs, failures, and even the occasional success. Highlights include Nic...

Season 4, Episode 5. Expat & life coach Julia inspired me with her blog post, " How to feel at home while you're abroad ." Although "home" can seem like it's something that just exists, separate from us, home is actually a feeling created actively by an individual. But how? Julia and I map out various strategies that have worked for us to make us feel at home, no matter where we are in the world....

Season 4, Episode 4. Coronavirus is a global pandemic that's got many of us trapped at home. Aspen and I team up to bring you a podcast/YouTube cross-over to help you find the good in this bad situation. Our status as expats in Germany has given us plenty of practice at maintaining relationships and creating a sense of community from afar, and we share our favorite tricks to feeling connected desp...

Season 4, Episode 3. Being in a cross-cultural relationship comes with many strengths and many challenges, especially if one partner moved to a new country and learned a new language to make the relationship work. This week's guest has lots of experience with that, both personally and professionally. Katie Rössler is an expat couple's counselor. Working with couples in person and online, through s...

Season 4, Episode 2. We dive into the topic of introversion with fellow introvert, fellow American living in Europe, and fellow podcaster Austyn from Expat Hour. Although Austyn and Nicole fall on different places on the extrovert/introvert spectrum, we share a love for nights in, the fulfillment of reading a book or watching TV alone, and the joy of missing out, aka JOMO, on social events. We ref...

Season 4, Episode 1. We're back with season 4! And we're kicking it off by diving into the delightful world of American football in Germany. Did you know that American football is played in Germany? I didn't, and neither did today's guest, Nick Alfieri, until he got recruited by the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. Yes, you read that right, they're called the Unicorns. Yes, it's impossible to say that wi...

This is a rebroadcast of an episode of "The Germany Experience," hosted by Shaun near Nuremberg. I call in from Freiburg to chat with Shaun and Steph Fuccio in Berlin of Geopats about our experiences with the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany. Find The Germany Experience here , and on  Instagram  and  Twitter . Discuss your opinions on this episode in the  The Germany Experience Facebook group ! Find S...

Season 3, Episode 25. It's the season 3 finale!!! Thanks to everyone who has made this season of The Expat Cast a smashing success. To celebrate the season wrapping up, I've invited guests from the last 3 seasons to give us an update on where they are now, how things have changed since they last were on the podcast, and what decisions they've been making lately about their expat life. We'll be bac...

Season 3, Episode 24. Natalie left her home country of the UK and was backpacking in Australia when a handsome German man caught her eye in a hostel. Cue a whirlwind year of traveling together throughout Australia and Asia before moving together to Freiburg, Germany. When the two got engaged, Natalie had plenty of big dreams for how she wanted her wedding. But quickly, it became apparent that putt...

Season 3, Episode 23. After I had Katie on as a guest for the episode called Intercultural Relationships , I knew I had to have her on again to talk about her day job. Katie spends her days deciphering and translating old German handwriting from different genealogical documents.  Individuals researching their German ancestry - or individuals who just stumble across their great-great-grandma's diar...

Season 3, Episode 22. There are an estimated 9 million Americans living abroad. If you asked each one of them how they feel about being American, you'd probably get 9 million unique answers. While we can't ask every single person how they feel, we can - and have! - asked two, and this week, we talk to Zoe, a native Philadelphian who returned to the city after various experiences living and traveli...