Expat Round-up: The pleasures & pains of expat living

Photo credit: Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH, Shutterstock

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” ~ Goethe

2017. A fresh start. A new beginning. And a warm welcome from me. I’m Greta Solomon, the new Expat Round-up editor. I’m a Brit mum living in Oslo, Norway with my Norwegian husband and our four-year-old daughter. Officially, I’m what’s called a lovepat, which is someone who moves abroad for love. It sounds romantic doesn’t it? But like any expat move, it comes with a specific set of challenges. The main one being that one of you is a local and one is most definitely not.

Anna Maria Moore has spent years researching lovepats and in I love you but I want to leave she tells her personal story.

Recently a fellow Brit mum confessed to me that when she first moved to Norway, she had the urge to strip naked and run through the streets just so people would see her. She was joking, of course. But I have to say, I understand what she means. When you move to a foreign country – especially to one where you are visibly different – the last thing you expect to feel is invisible. You can read more about this in my post On seeing and being seen.

According to the 2016 World Happiness Index, Norway is the fourth happiest country in the world. Only Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland are happier. Hygge (the Danish word that roughly translates as ‘cosiness’) was the lifestyle goal for many Brits in 2016. It’s the very embodiment of Danish happiness. And you couldn’t open a magazine or pick up a Sunday supplement without reading about it. So, you’d be forgiven for thinking that life in Scandinavia is a warm, snowy blanket of goodwill, complete with unlimited cinnamon buns.

But while the locals may be happy, expats need to jump through a lot of hoops to fit in. The Expat Insider 2016 index by InterNations surveyed 14,000 people to find out how friendly they thought their host country was. And it found that foreigners living in Scandinavia find it very hard to make friends.

It works both ways, of course, as you’ll see in this post from Abbi Stolagiewicz. An American living in London, Abbi beautifully describes what homesickness feels like. 

Aker Brygge in winter. Photo credit: Greta Solomon

Simple pleasures and small delights

Having lived abroad for five years, I know that the rough comes with the smooth. Some people, such as Portuguese photographer and web designer Sonia Afonso embrace it all, and get the bug – becoming serial expats who move countries every few years.

Whether you stay or go, make sure that you take pictures of all the everyday things in your life. For inspiration, see these beautiful everyday pictures Sonia took before leaving for Chicago.

As an expat, you have to step outside your comfort zone again and again. And that can sometimes make you want to tear your hair out. But doing so is the stuff of growth. You’re constantly taking action and shaking things up. And if things do get a little samey, ask yourself this question: Are you in your truth zone or your comfort zone? In this post, Hawaii-based psychologist Christina Paul gets to the heart of when to feel comfy, and when to push the limits.

Ultimately, being an expat helps you find joy in the little things, in the stuff of daily life – cooking, walking, and having coffee with friends. Australian women’s coach Claire Baker is reading a book a week. Join her here for weeks 28-36. And Francophile Lindsey Tramuta is working her way through Paris, one coffee shop at a time. She gives her top tips on where to drink specialty coffee in Paris.

We expats get to delight in the new, with adventure at every turn. Plus, as bloggers we can put our words on our screens and say: “We did it. We came, we saw, we conquered. We learned new ways of speaking, living and being”.

Some of us assimilate so fully we even consider adopting a new nationality. Brit Joanna Styles is a long-term expat having lived on the Costa del Sol for 27 years. She has written an excellent post about the pros and cons of taking Spanish nationality, giving 5 Reasons for taking Spanish nationality (and 5 reasons not to). 

I’m thrilled to be writing this round-up to showcase the work of fantastic expat bloggers from all over the world. I hope this will be a space for us to share tips, experiences and stories. If you have a post that you’d like me to consider, feel free to email me at greta@gretasolomon.com You can also message me on Instagram @greta.solomon And finally, if you feel called to take the leap and become an expat, do it. Life will never be the same again.

About Greta Solomon

Greta Solomon is a writer, journalist and author. She teaches classes in writing for creative self-expression and is the author of Just Write It! (McGraw-Hill, 2013). She has been teaching, coaching and mentoring writers since 2006. Her clients have included executives from multi-million pound companies, students, entrepreneurs and creatives. She has a psychology degree and qualifications in life coaching, teaching and lyric writing. Born and bred in London to Caribbean parents, Greta moved to Norway with her Norwegian husband in 2011. They currently live in Oslo with their daughter, Savannah. Greta blogs about life, love, writing and self-expression at www.gretasolomon.com

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