About the author

I, the author of this site, am originally from Finland, Northern Europe, and have been living overseas/out from my native country for couple of years now. The journey has been as colourful as it can be so far and it remains to be seen what the future holds for us as we have yet to see the end of this "trip". The feelings we have experienced during the times include all the possible ones you can have, from uttermost despair to a limitless happiness and joy. As we Finns have our own language that is completely different than any other language in the world, language issue was one of the first one to tackle of course. Luckily the education given in Finland was a pretty solid heartstone to build on and improve our abilities languagewise. That gave us quite an easy position on our first destination, but the second one was not so easy and everything had to be started with baby steps. Our first expatriate destination was Sydney Australia, and now I am living in China.

Why this site was developed and is kept online?

Adjusting to foreign places is not easy for everyone, nor it was particularly easy for us either. We have met our obstacles along the way and still keep on running into those, but as it is, life goes on and all the obstacles can be passed if they are important enough to concentrate at. And if the issue is meaningless, why to worry over it?

I admit that I looked the whole package of jumping to a new and different life thru a bit too rosy glasses. Setting up your life anew and getting everything in rails and in order, took quite a bit effort on both times. Of course this is not the issue with everyone due to different backgrounds and nationalities, so for some starting expatriate life will be easy. I will not generalize. My main goal is to tell about the different aspects of living abroad, from the good and bad sides of it from my perspective and telling my observations. Maybe even set straight some myths about expatriate life. And if that helps anyone to make up their mind whether they are ready for expat life or prefer to stay in familiar and safe surroundings, I am happy and my goal has been reached!

Yours Truly

Disclaimer

The information and tips I am providing here have been derived from my own personal experiences and thus do not represent the only thruth there is. I still expect that quite many of the issues I have stated on these pages hold and can be applied to most countries and situations. Common sense is your good companion, where ever you travel. Never forget to use it.