An insight into a typical week living abroad.
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
Anthony Bourdain
People think that living abroad is glamorous. I mean, it’s way better than anything I was ever doing back in the States and I see shit every day that blows my mind, but is it glamorous? Girl, no. So, Les Go Live Abroad.
Flash back
Let’s flash back to Spring 2016. I had already graduated with a Masters (regret the amount of loans I have to this day) and no one was hirin a b*tch. I had gone on many interviews, damn near full day inductions and hadn’t gotten a bite from any employers. To top that off, I was coming out of an almost decade-long relationship. So, as any sane person would do, I looked for ways out.
I always had living abroad on my radar. I remember freshly graduating from Uni at 23 and tiptoeing around teaching abroad. But, life happened so I never got around to it. In my despair of 2016 I searched teaching abroad and decided to invest in myself and take the leap.
Current Day
I’m 3+ years strong and living in my third country. I’d like to live in 3 more countries within the soon future but for now my daily life consists of chillin. I have breakfast every morning in my courtyard.
I stress about job and how to succeed like most people… maybe. I have a normal ass 9-5, Monday – Friday gig like most of my friends back home. Sitting in an office whilst living abroad can actually be exceptionally cruel because you know you didn’t uproot your life and move halfway cross the world for this shit! But then you remember on a given weekend you could go to Thai beaches and everything is ok.
And I try to have a balanced social life. That doesn’t always happen because my girlfriend has an amazing library so I’ll spend 8 hours a weekend reading away.
People always have this perception that an expat’s life must be thrilling and adventurous. But I do some basic, domesticated ass shit just in a different setting. I rearrange my room, hangout with my dogs, and binge watch Netflix for hours.
The real thing about living as an expat is it’s liberating. I am liberated from my daily culture while immersing myself in another. I am continuously challenged on a daily because I have limited communication ability and I have to traverse through cultural taboos. My mind is always alerted to know things and I feel I become sharper every day. Yes, expat life can be isolating, lonely, and stressful, but I’ll never regret making that leap in 2016.
Les Go... 