Friendship Abroad

Hanna Niamilentsava | NutriHanna

How do you make friends as an adult — and especially as an expat? This podcast explores the part of health nobody talks about: social connection. Hosted by Hanna, an experienced expat and health and nutrition coach, the podcast features real conversations with people who moved abroad as adults and successfully built friendships in a new country. No universal advice. No clichés. Just honest stories, different paths, and real-life experience. If you’ve ever felt lonely abroad — this podcast is for you.

Afleveringen

  1. 21 jun

    Episode 6: From Canada to Vietnam — Finding Your People Abroad

    What if finding friends abroad has less to do with where you live and more to do with how you approach people? In this episode of Friendship Abroad, Hanna talks to Anna — a serial expat whose journey has taken her from Canada to Vietnam and beyond. Together, they explore why mindset matters more than geography when it comes to building meaningful connections. Anna shares why so many expats make "finding local friends" their ultimate goal — and why that strategy often leads to disappointment. We also discuss what makes friendship with locals challenging, how Dutch neighborhoods shape social life, and why making friends as adults might be easier if we borrow a few tricks from childhood. We also talk about: how to maintain close relationships across countries and time zonesstaying connected with friends you've known since schoolthe importance of community when starting over abroadpractical ways to meet people and build genuine friendships After listening to the recording, Anna felt there were a few additional thoughts that were important for understanding her story and experience: “I understood after the recording that I sound overly positive and maybe too light on the concept of friendship, which is not the case. With the multiple moves across the world I have developed a specific attitude that might sound cynical, but it really helps me to cope with losing connections and friends. It came to me from a book of Haruki Murakami “Dance Dance Dance”: in my life there’s an entrance and an exit. People pass through my life, and I am very grateful if they choose to stay with me for a while, but I know that most of them will leave through the exit, and I accept that. That approach really helps me to cherish people and time with them, and then let go if our roads separate.Another thing I wanted to mentioned - I was very quick in saying I do not have friends in Russia left. This is not the actual situation, but the topic is too sensitive and emotional for me to go deeper into it” During the episode, Anna also mentions the Toastmasters club: https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club Disclaimer: My microphone volume is quite low in this episode, but the good news is that my guest sounds crystal clear! Thank you for your patience, and I apologize for the inconvenience. If you'd like to become a guest on Friendship Abroad and share your own story of friendship, belonging, and life abroad, send me an email at NutriHanna.nl@gmail.com

    18 min.
  2. 15 mei

    Episode 5: Friends We Lose — And Friends Who Were Never Really There

    Not every friendship is meant to last forever. And sometimes the hardest heartbreaks in expat life are not romantic ones — but friendships that slowly disappear, change, or reveal themselves to be something different than we believed.In this deeply personal solo episode of Friendship Abroad, Hanna shares honest and emotional stories about friends lost along the way: friendships that faded after moving abroad, connections that survived distance — and others that didn’t survive reality.She also talks about a painful but important realization many adults experience: sometimes people we called “friends” were only part of a specific chapter of our lives.Why do some friendships become stronger through distance, while others quietly fall apart?Why is losing a friend rarely talked about — even though it can hurt just as much as losing a relationship?And how do we learn to let go without becoming closed off to new connections?This episode is vulnerable, reflective, and painfully relatable for anyone who has ever:-outgrown old friendships-felt abandoned after moving abroad-struggled to reconnect after returning home-or realized that loneliness can exist even when surrounded by peopleIf this episode resonates with you, Hanna would truly love to hear your story.And if you would like to become a guest on Friendship Abroad and share your own experience of connection, loneliness, friendship, or starting over abroad, send an email to:📩 NutriHanna.nl@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram

    11 min.

Info

How do you make friends as an adult — and especially as an expat? This podcast explores the part of health nobody talks about: social connection. Hosted by Hanna, an experienced expat and health and nutrition coach, the podcast features real conversations with people who moved abroad as adults and successfully built friendships in a new country. No universal advice. No clichés. Just honest stories, different paths, and real-life experience. If you’ve ever felt lonely abroad — this podcast is for you.