A Different Approach to Everyday Life: A Return to One’s Own Values Abroad

Living abroad not only opens up a completely new view of the country and its people. The perception of worldwide cultural differences also does something to one’s own ideas. What is desirable? What belongs to the things that are absolutely necessary and what are things that are considered absolutely necessary in one culture and play no role at all elsewhere? This becomes very vivid if you make yourself aware of an everyday situation in a very concrete way. In this article, I look at the different designs of children’s rooms around the world and what this has to do with a return to our basic instincts. 

The WHY & HOW to approach strangers abroad​

community, sharethelove, friends

This blog post is all about making acquaintances abroad. I share the great TED Talk from a 75 year old Harvard study on the value of relationships on our happiness and health, share tips from the SharetheLove community and introduce you to the great Kio who shows you how to approach strangers. Life is too short for loneliness. Get proactive and inspired by all these great resources!

Finding friends abroad – how to connect with other expat families

community, matchfamily, sharethelove, friends

Family and friends are the most important pillars in our lives. While we can take some of our family with us on our expat adventure, our friendships stay behind. So I was very happy when Dzhangar from Matchfamilies contacted me. His app that connects expat families was exactly the solution for the phase when you realize that you miss friends but don’t know what to do about it.

How to Deal with Homesickness as an Expat

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If you were looking forward to working and living abroad, homesickness as an expat can come as a surprise, but it is not uncommon. If you have only recently moved abroad to work, it can make settling in to a new country much more difficult. For many expats, homesickness is even thought to be a contributory factor in their decision to repatriate. Thankfully, Allianz Care has developed several steps you can take to help deal with any feelings of homesickness you may be experiencing without making the drastic decision to return home:

20 cultural difference you rather feel than can explain

german city, culture, us

Each country has its smell, taste and smaller habits that you can feel more than explain. When you are living abroad, and you are coming home for Christmas, this is a perfect opportunity to explore your own culture with new eyes. You will recognize differences you have not been aware before moving abroad. Here is my selection of 20 typical Germans things that caught my attention after living in the US.

Visiting home as the Expat

I will be flying to Europe tomorrow and living abroad for two years now my feeling about this holiday and coming “home” has changed a bit. In this blog post, I want to share my view about this. If you are an expat yourself, you might resonate with this, if you are a friend of an Expat this might help you to understand your friend a bit better.

The Expat Syndrom and its best medicine

expat syndrom, girl running

Especially new Expats are struggling with the so-called Expat syndrome: We tend to see only the negative parts of the new culture we are living in and praise our own culture from back home. It is human and does not define your character. It’s more of a coping strategy of the human brain for an overload of uncertainty and new beginnings. However, this attitude won’t make you happy when living abroad.

Going to the dentist: Germany vs. the US

mouth, dentist

In my mind, you have officially and to 100% moved abroad when you stopped going to the hairdresser and dentist on your yearly visits to your home country 🙂 In my case, it was heavy pain that forced me to say goodbye to the idea of going to my doctors during the next Christmas.
In this blog post, I want to share with you some of the things I realized are pretty different about this visit to the dentist. I would love to learn from your experience. Please comment below what happened to you and if you can resonate with the differences I realized.

Overcoming the cultural barrier

workbook, expat partner, expat partner career, sharethelove

Cultural difference in the work environment and job application process is only one of the many obstacles Expat Partners face. However, it’s a great obstacle to overcome as you work on it straight away.

The 5 phases of culture shock and how to go through smoothly

expat life, culture shock, sharethelove

Culture shock is what you can expect when moving to another country. It does not matter if you move to a place similar to your own culture or you are changing continents. No matter the distance, you will still experience a cultural shock and the different phases it comes with.