Culture Shock: Can It Be Avoided?

Posted on 23. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life
3 comments

Living abroad and never getting culture shock is like being an entrepreneur and never freaking out. Or organising a wedding and never having a meltdown.

It’s a nice little fantasy. You really want to believe it can be done. You go to cross-cultural training sessions and language classes. You collect travel books and online resources as if they were amulets that will ward off the big bad culture shock.

Unfortunately, information and knowledge alone are not enough. Not if you don’t know how to process them on the emotional, internal level. (more…)

Culture Shock: A Different Perspective

Posted on 18. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Musings & Inspiration
2 comments

“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”

- Bill Bryson

Darn. Now I feel like taking off to some faraway country where I don’t speak the language. Ah, the joys of chronic wanderlust!

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Emmanuelle

Image by Janna McLaughlin, via Flickr Creative Commons

Why I Hate The Term “Culture Shock”

Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
4 comments

I have a confession to make: even though I use it daily, I hate the term “culture shock” with a passion. The way I see it, if Culture Shock were a person, it would be an elitist drama queen.

There’s something so big, so dramatic about “Culture Shock” that a whole lot of expats don’t feel that they even deserve to use the term.

Sounds familiar?

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Culture Shock Or Smooth Sailing?

Posted on 11. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation
9 comments

Culture shock. We’ve all heard about it, and chances are, we’ve all experienced it to some degree during our expat adventures.

On her Swedish Blog, Anna recently questioned whether Westerners could get culture shock when relocating to Sweden.

I can see her point. After all, if you’re moving from one developed country to another, how big could the difference be, right?

However, back when I was in Sweden some 15 years ago (yikes!), I saw enough fellow French and British students suffer from full-blown culture shock to know that things are not that simple.

I don’t believe that culture shock has much to do with the objective differences between two countries. It all happens on the emotional level.

You’re headed for culture shock when you: (more…)

Passion, Persistence And Butter

Posted on 07. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Musings & Inspiration
0 comments

Are you a food lover? Do you like a great story? Do you enjoy spending time in the company of passionate, extraordinary personalities?

If you do, consider taking the afternoon off and marching into the nearest movie theatre to see Julie & Julia.

What a thoroughly enjoyable movie – it’s uplifting, no one dies onscreen (aside from three lobsters), and Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci deliver flawless performances.

But what does all of this have to do with expat life? Well, the storyline holds many nuggets of wisdom that we expats can take to heart.

Here’s what I am taking away from Julie & Julia, other than a fierce craving for boeuf bourguignon: (more…)

“Ex-patriots”?

Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
0 comments

Grumble!

If I see expats being called “ex-patriots” one more time, I’m going to scream – or say something rude in public.

Do people seriously believe this is what Expat means?*

*Judging by how many spell it “ex-pat”, I am afraid they do.

I don’t know about you, but I still love my birth country, AND I love Canada too. There’s enough room in my heart for two, three, heck, maybe even ten countries!

It’s like a delicious box of chocolates. Each country, each city has its own unique flavour – why wouldn’t we want to sample more than one?

I even suspect that the longer we live overseas, the better we are able to appreciate our home country. There’s nothing like gaining a different perspective on our roots and our culture – and what better way to do this than expatriation?

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Emmanuelle

Image by romanlily, via Flickr Creative Commons

Feeling At Home: Closing Thoughts

Posted on 31. Aug, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Musings & Inspiration
0 comments

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right.

-Maya Angelou

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Emmanuelle

Image by Raychel Mendez, via Flickr Creative Commons

Feeling At Home: How Are Your Language Skills Coming Along?

Posted on 26. Aug, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation
0 comments

You may remember that last month was Language Learning month here at Winning Away.

We learned how to overcome blocks, and I shared tips to help you boost your language skills, whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced student.

So, how is it going?

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Feeling At Home: Friends And Acquaintances

Posted on 24. Aug, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation
1 comment

Have you begun making friends in your host country? How are your new friendships coming along?

Friendships are such a personal thing, the only rule about them… is that there are no rules.

Expats or locals?

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Feeling At Home: Plan For (Personal) Growth

Posted on 21. Aug, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation
1 comment

So you’ve relocated to a new country, and you have settled in your new home. You’re finally seeing the end of all the paperwork you had to deal with, and you’ve started your new job.

Now what?

The post-relocation slump

(more…)