(a perk of being an unemployed expat: you can go to the beach for a photo shoot on a total whim!)
Hi everyone and happy Monday! As this post goes live I’m in Greece vacationing with four of our good friends visiting from the US. I’d say one of the best parts of life as an expat has been the amount of people who have made the effort to visit us. It’s been amazing to have friends and family make the journey to Spain and get to experience a small piece of our lives out here with them.
But I’d be lying if I said that life as an expat has been a total breeze. Sure, a lot of it is pretty dreamy for me. If you’re not aware of our situation, the short story is that my husband’s job moved him (slash us) to Spain for an 8 month assignment. Without going into too much detail, it pretty much means I get to live in Europe for free while my husband goes to work. Living the dream, right? Like I said, a lot of it is dreamy, but it’s not all dreamy. I had to leave a job I loved to move here, had to say goodbye to friends and also have to live day to day without knowing what the next step will be (but that’s a whole different story for another day).
I wanted to share a little more intimately the experience of living as an expat; the good, the bad and the confusing.
We’ll start with the challenges.
The Challenges of Expat Life
Otherwise known as the not so great parts! Honestly I’m trying to see the positive in everything, including the challenges, but some days it can get to you.
Not Speaking the Language: An obvious one. My Spanish is okay and I can get by in basic situations (shopping, eating out, the market, etc), but try anything more complicated than that and I feel super intimidated and awkward. There’s something really comforting about easy communication you get while living in the US as an English speaker. You don’t realize it until you don’t have it.
Wondering What Your Purpose Is: My husband goes to work each day, but me? I’m kinda just hanging out. I didn’t search for a job because our time here is so brief, and again, that pesky language barrier would make it hard for me to get a casual job (like waitressing or teaching fitness). I’m trying to blog more, write more, and further my personal training certification, but in the grand scheme of things, when you’re an expat flying on the coattails of your significant other, your “purpose” can sometimes make you feel a little down.
Comparison To People Back Home: We’re doing something most of our friends aren’t doing. I know that’s okay (and even good!), but it’s easy to compare yourself to your friends and think they’ve got it all figured out. Friends are killing it in their careers, buying houses, having babies, and all that good stuff. Half of me is jealous and the other half is so glad we’re doing what we’re doing, because hopefully all those things will be in our future when we’re done with this adventure. Even so, it can be hard to be so far away from home and feel slightly out of the loop.
The Time Difference: I thought the time difference was bad when we moved from the east coast to the west coast. I had no idea how bad it would be here! We’re 6 hours from folks on the east coast (where our families live) and 9 from the west coast (where many of our friends live). Staying in touch can be challenging and I mostly depend on texting. What’s really weird is when I have a group text going on when I go to sleep, it continues while I’m sleeping and the same convo can still be going strong when I wake up, I just have to scroll back to read the 50 missed texts to get up to speed. I’m thankful for technology for making it relatively easy to say hi to friends and family, but man is the time difference a rough one.
The Positives of Expat Life
Learning from a Different Culture: Everyday is a new adventure here and it’s not one I take for granted. Experiencing Spanish culture and Europe in general is amazing. Vacationing in another country only gives you a small glimpse into life there. By living here for 8 months we’re getting to really feel like locals. In fact, going out to dinner at 10 or 11pm feels completely normal to us now!
Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone: They say life begins outside of your comfort zone, and that’s where I’m currently hanging out. The first few weeks were tough, but it’s amazing how your attitude can shift and you can adapt in just a short period of time. When we first got here I definitely had feelings of uh oh, what am I doing here and why did we think this was a good idea? Thankfully, those feelings pass pretty quickly when you focus on the positives.
All the Travel: This is for sure one of the best parts. Travel around Europe is so easy and cheap. I’m trying to see as much of the continent as possible during our time here. It’s hard to narrow down what my favorites have been, but Copenhagen, Norway and Amsterdam are towards the top of my list.
Meeting New People: Making new friends as an adult is no small feat. Then try doing it in a country where you don’t speak the language. I haven’t been putting in a ton of effort into meeting new people (we’ve had a lot of visitors and our time here is brief which has made me a bit lazy about it), but I’ve made some new friends. It’s not my favorite part of being abroad because at this point in my life it would be easier to hang out with all my besties. Really, who has the energy to make new friends at 33? Even so, it’s cool to meet people from different walks of life and expand your relationships.
Living in the Moment: I’m not super good at this, but are any of us? If you are, what are your secrets? Anyways, I’m trying my best not to focus on what’s next and what I should be doing with my career/life/etc and am trying to live and enjoy the moments happening right now. I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and not one that everyone gets. I’m doing my best to be thankful for where we are and the experiences we’re having. Yes, a piece of me is super eager to figure out our next steps, but I just need to have faith that it will all work out.
If you’ve been curious about our experiences thus far, hopefully this sheds some light on our lives as expats. We’ve got a few months left and I will be over here making the most of it before we return to the US and back to ‘real life.’
If you’re an expat, can you relate to these experiences and feelings?
(Photo credit: Andrea Kay Images)
