Geopats Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals

Stephanie Fuccio | Expat of 20+ years
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Places & Travel
  • Updated Semiweekly

Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while in our life abroad.  For eight years of my serial expat life, I interviewed people about the things that helped them understand, adjust to, and feel more connected to the places they were living. The original Geopats Abroad podcast ended in 2022, but the conversations still hold up. This Substack is where I’m bringing that archive back to life. Living Abroad, Culture, Identity, and Belonging I’m tidying up the older episodes to make them easier to find and listen to because more and more people are making the leap to living outside their passport country. In these conversations, you’ll find stories from expats, immigrants, international students, long-term travelers, and people whose lives don’t fit neatly into one place. The driving force of the podcast is my own curiosity and desire to connect with other internationals globally. This isn’t just an audio project, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a Substack. It’s a very personal project. It’s part of who I am and who I was while recording these conversations. Some episodes are practical. Others are deeply personal. Most explore the small and big things that help us make sense of a new place and feel more at home in it. What Geopats Abroad Explores Each season of Geopats Abroad approaches getting comfortable in our new places from a different angle. Season 1: Guests looked back at something they had written during an earlier period of living abroad, including emails, blog posts, and social media posts, and reflected on how they saw that experience differently later. Seasons 2 and 3: Language learning. Season 2 focused on foreigners learning Mandarin Chinese, while Season 3 featured native Chinese speakers talking about learning English and other languages. Seasons 4 and 5: Online communities that helped people feel more connected and at home in a new place. Season 6: Books that helped people understand the places they were living in. Season 7: Conversations about learning languages other than Chinese. Season 8: Coffee and the role it can play in connecting to a place. Season 9: Podcasting globally: how it’s similar and different. And of course, how it can connect us to each other in our new culture.  Season 10: A mixed season covering music, photography, returning home, and other parts of life abroad. Season 11: Immigrant kids who later became expats, exploring how growing up between cultures shaped the way they experienced living abroad as adults. About Stephanie Fuccio: Serial Expat Since 2003 I’m Stephanie Fuccio. I’ve mostly been living and working outside the U.S. since 2003 and have lived in Asia, Latin America, and Europe during this time. My own experiences with culture shock, identity, belonging, language, and building a life abroad shaped many of the questions behind Geopats Abroad. The podcast grew from my curiosity about what helps people feel grounded in a new place, how we build connection far from where we started, and how living abroad changes the way we understand home, culture, identity, and ourselves. Geopats is my ongoing archive of those conversations.

  1. 08/25/2022

    A German American Household & Life Abroad in China and Thailand: S11E4

    Send us Fan Mail Can growing up with an immigrant parent change the way you experience life abroad as an adult? Chelsea grew up in Tennessee with a German mother, then built an expat life in Asia, giving her a new perspective on what immigrant parents pass on to their children. Listen for: How children of immigrants can experience expat lifeHow assimilation affects heritage language and cultural identityWhat culture shock reveals about adapting abroadHow living abroad can change how adult children understand immigrant parentsWhy some Americans choose long-term expat lifeHow third-culture kids develop identity across culturesHow Can Growing Up as the Child of an Immigrant Shape Expat Life? Growing up with an immigrant parent can make life abroad feel possible because another country is already part of family life. In this Geopats Abroad conversation, Chelsea describes growing up in Clarksville, Tennessee, with an American father and a German mother from Aachen. Her family traveled to Germany about every two years, often staying for a month, making international travel and cultural differences familiar before Chelsea became an expat. After graduating with a history degree in 2010, Chelsea started questioning whether restaurant work or a conventional desk job suited her. Teaching English abroad let her test a teaching career while seeing more of the world. Chelsea moved to Nanjing, China, in 2011, beginning a decade abroad. Her immigrant-family background didn’t prepare her for every challenge, but it made living outside the United States feel imaginable. How Can Living Abroad Change the Way Adult Children Understand Immigrant Parents and Assimilation? Living abroad can make an immigrant parent’s culture shock easier to understand because the adult child finally experiences being the outsider. In Geopats Abroad, Chelsea explains that her German mother moved to the United States without speaking English and focused on assimilation. She eventually chose English rather than German as the family language, although German food such as schnitzel, Jäger sauce, cucumber salad, and goulash remained part of Chelsea’s childhood. Chelsea’s perspective changed when her mother visited her in China. Chelsea could speak enough Chinese to manage daily life, and people in her neighborhood knew her. Watching her mother become the confused newcomer helped Chelsea reinterpret childhood conflicts about why their family did things differently. Chelsea realized that she and her mother had once been learning how to be American at the same time, only at different ages. Expat life gave Chelsea a new understanding of assimilation, culture shock, and what her mother had navigated while raising children in the United States. How Do Expat Parents Raise Third-Culture Kids Across Countries, Languages, and Cultures? Expat parents can raise third-culture kids by making room for several languages, cultures, and identities at once. In this Geopats Abroad conversation, Chelsea had moved from Shanghai to Bangkok for a three-year international-school contract. Her 18-month-old daughter had been born in China and was beginning life in Thailand. Chelsea is American with German family roots, while her husband is from Cameroon, a French-speaking country. They were considering teaching their daughter French, but Chelsea didn’t want to prescribe one cultural identity. She wants her daughter to keep what feels meaningful from the cultures around her and communicate comfortably with people from different backgrounds. Chelsea’s immigrant-family history and expat life shape how she approaches raising a third-culture child across countries. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tennessee | Clarksville | Aachen | Germany | Nanjing | China | Shanghai | Bangkok | Thailand | Cameroon | immigrant parents | children of immigrants | assimilation | heritage language | cultural identity | culture shock | expat life | living abroad | third-culture kids Original publication date: August 27, 2022  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  2. 08/18/2022

    Life Abroad in Thailand, the Czech Republic, and Mexico After Growing Up In A Chilean American Household:: S11E3

    Send us Fan Mail How much do our immigrant parents impact our adult expat experiences? This is what we're exploring in this conversation with return guest Alison.  Alison and I dig into growing up with two unequal cultures in one household,  the racial struggles she's seen in many countries during her years living outside of her passport country of the U.S. and her coming to terms with the differences between her mother's immigrant experience and her own expat life.  Original publication date: August 26, 2022  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  3. 08/11/2022

    From Immigrant Roots to Expat Life: Growing Up with Immigrant Parents and Living Abroad: S11E2

    Send us Fan Mail Questions about family can be triggering if the experience was not ideal. This is one of the reasons that Steph's talked about her family in tiny drips here and there but not in depth. But it felt disingenuous to ask other expats to open up about their early family life growing up with immigrant parents without diving into these experiences herself. So to help with this tabled turned interview, Melissa was kind enough to hop in and guide the conversation. Melissa's podcast: Tired In My Twenties: https://tiredtwenties.substack.com/ Original publication date: August 29, 2022  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  4. 08/04/2022

    Montreal to Shanghai: A Greek Canadian Expat Story: S11E1

    Send us Fan Mail Have your immigrant parents ever visited you in any of your expat places? Georges' parents have and it shifted how he understood their struggles moving from Greece to Canada. We cover a lot more ground on his parents' immigrant story and how it has both positively and negatively influenced his own expat experience.  Original publication date: July 28, 2022  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  5. 02/10/2022

    Damon Castillo on Making Music, Letting Go, and Creating for Others: S10E5

    Send us Fan Mail This episode is really special for me. Last month for NaPodPoMo I had the extreme pleasure of chatting with Damon Castillo for this episode. Yes, THE Damon Castillo of the Mess of Me album that we've been using for the past 2 years in all of the Geopats Podcast Network shows. We talk about the longevity of the Damon Castillo Band, his geopatness, my favorite song on the Mess of Me Album (Saint Cecilia), his recording studio in San Luis Obispo, what music he listens to and some creative struggles. In short, we cover the elements that make up the language of music, lovely, lovely music.  Original publication date: December 24, 2020 Damon Castillo: https://www.damoncastillo.com/  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  6. 01/27/2022

    What It Feels Like to Return to Japan as a Japanese American: S10E4

    Send us Fan Mail Ken Hirano was born in Japan but his family moved to the U.S. before he started school. He returned to Japan to live a few times in his life, and now is one of them. He moved back to Tokyo about a year ago and recently (wrote a post on LinkedIn) on this geographic anniversary about his cultural and language identity. And that is what we are digging into today.  This identity path took us through how he feels in different languages, why he feels more simple and defenseless in Japanese than English, how Japanese locals versus expats in Japan treat his Japanese & Americanness and where he is the most comfortable. Spoiler: none of these issues have a clearly defined answer and that is what made this nuanced discussion with Ken so interesting to have.   Original publication date: September 28, 2020  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  7. 01/13/2022

    California to Prague: Building an Online Life Across Countries: S10E3

    Send us Fan Mail Alison Maciejewski made me think long and hard about food photos in our shifting expat lives. How does our wanderlust come through online?  But the conversation is not all serious, we have some fun comparing emoji options on Line (in Thailand) and WeChat (in China), what and where “ugly delicious food” is, and how using teen dramas are a good way to learn the Thai language. original publication date: December 13, 2018  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  8. 12/30/2021

    A Welsh Expat in Denmark: The Album That Helped Him Settle In: S10E2

    Send us Fan Mail Has a song ever carried you through a rough time in your life? That's exactly what happened to British international Karl when he moved to Denmark.  original publication date: November 12, 2018  🛍️ Geopats Abroad shop: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur 💰Best credit card for Americans living or traveling outside the U.S. Chase Sapphire: https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/1805579379 📬 Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 💰Global bank account with multiple currencies: https://wise.com/invite/dic/debrad107 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. Get a bonus when you upgrade with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2022201 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

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About

Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while in our life abroad.  For eight years of my serial expat life, I interviewed people about the things that helped them understand, adjust to, and feel more connected to the places they were living. The original Geopats Abroad podcast ended in 2022, but the conversations still hold up. This Substack is where I’m bringing that archive back to life. Living Abroad, Culture, Identity, and Belonging I’m tidying up the older episodes to make them easier to find and listen to because more and more people are making the leap to living outside their passport country. In these conversations, you’ll find stories from expats, immigrants, international students, long-term travelers, and people whose lives don’t fit neatly into one place. The driving force of the podcast is my own curiosity and desire to connect with other internationals globally. This isn’t just an audio project, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a Substack. It’s a very personal project. It’s part of who I am and who I was while recording these conversations. Some episodes are practical. Others are deeply personal. Most explore the small and big things that help us make sense of a new place and feel more at home in it. What Geopats Abroad Explores Each season of Geopats Abroad approaches getting comfortable in our new places from a different angle. Season 1: Guests looked back at something they had written during an earlier period of living abroad, including emails, blog posts, and social media posts, and reflected on how they saw that experience differently later. Seasons 2 and 3: Language learning. Season 2 focused on foreigners learning Mandarin Chinese, while Season 3 featured native Chinese speakers talking about learning English and other languages. Seasons 4 and 5: Online communities that helped people feel more connected and at home in a new place. Season 6: Books that helped people understand the places they were living in. Season 7: Conversations about learning languages other than Chinese. Season 8: Coffee and the role it can play in connecting to a place. Season 9: Podcasting globally: how it’s similar and different. And of course, how it can connect us to each other in our new culture.  Season 10: A mixed season covering music, photography, returning home, and other parts of life abroad. Season 11: Immigrant kids who later became expats, exploring how growing up between cultures shaped the way they experienced living abroad as adults. About Stephanie Fuccio: Serial Expat Since 2003 I’m Stephanie Fuccio. I’ve mostly been living and working outside the U.S. since 2003 and have lived in Asia, Latin America, and Europe during this time. My own experiences with culture shock, identity, belonging, language, and building a life abroad shaped many of the questions behind Geopats Abroad. The podcast grew from my curiosity about what helps people feel grounded in a new place, how we build connection far from where we started, and how living abroad changes the way we understand home, culture, identity, and ourselves. Geopats is my ongoing archive of those conversations.

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