Happy Birthday to ExpatWomen.com
January 13th, 2010 Posted in day to day, travelWritten by Shanie
A vital aspect to living abroad successfully (meaning happily) is to have a circle of confidants and shoulders to cry on. Others that know what it’s like to hurt in your heart from homesickness. Or what it’s like to have bouts of wondering if this “living abroad thing” has purpose. Or the shedding of tears because of the frustration of learning a new language.
When I lived in Germany as an exchange student in the early 90s, keeping in contact with others that also lived abroad was pretty difficult. The exchange program that I was on had over a thousand participants, but I was the only one living in Bavaria. And I was the first foreigner involved in the small town’s school system. The lack of support helped me to eventually become more independent, trusting of myself and complete the immersion into my new culture. But there was a side effect…many, many tears were shed.
That is where ExpatWomen.com comes in…this collaborative effort of women living around the world is a great resource for those moments when living in a foreign land seems like a pretty strange thing to be doing.
This Saturday will be their 3rd birthday. So, I would like to sing a loud virtual Happy Birthday song to those that made the site happen. It’s helpful. Needed. And a true assistant to those ladies living beyond the cultural box.
Cheers! Here’s to many, many more…
