Geopats Life Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals

Stephanie Fuccio | Expat of 20+ years

Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while lin 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 Have you ever wondered why your immigrant parent(s) didn't prepare you for being a global citizen?  Chelsea thought this when she was struggling in her first expat place. Over time she began to understand the distinct difference between her mother's immigrant experience and her expat one. In this conversation, we unpack the lasting impression that Chelsea's mom had on her expat life and which influences she kept and discarded.  Original publication date: August 27, 2022 00:00 – Growing Up With Immigrant Parents 02:25 – Moving Abroad During the Pandemic 04:50 – Leaving China for Thailand 07:15 – Stability, Jobs, and Expat Life 09:40 – Becoming a Pandemic Parent Abroad 12:05 – First Expat Experience in China 14:30 – Teaching Abroad After University 16:55 – Why Staying Abroad Makes Sense 19:20 – American Work Culture vs Expat Life 21:45 – Having a German Mother in America 24:10 – Language Loss and Assimilation 26:35 – Immigrant Parents and Identity 29:00 – Raising a Third Culture Child 31:25 – Seeing Immigration Through Expat Life 33:50 – When Everything Comes Full Circle 📬 Traveling abroad long-term? Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 📸 Instagram reels from my past and present life abroad: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 Daily video clips from my life abroad: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. The podcast host I recommend most often is Buzzsprout. Use this link and get a bonus when you upgrade: https://www.buzzsprout.com/geopats 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips to help your older episodes keep getting found:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

  2. 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 📬 Traveling abroad long-term? Traveling Mailbox gives you a permanent US mailing address you can access from anywhere: https://travelingmailbox.com/geopats/?ref=3422 📸 Instagram reels from my past and present life abroad: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/ 🎥 Daily video clips from my life abroad: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew 🎙️Start your own podcast. The podcast host I recommend most often is Buzzsprout. Use this link and get a bonus when you upgrade: https://www.buzzsprout.com/geopats 📬 Weekly podcast discoverability tips to help your older episodes keep getting found:  https://podcaststeph.substack.com/

About

Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while lin 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.