The Expat Repat Podcast
Arts & Culture Podcasts
The Expat Repat Podcast is for expats, repats, and anyone who's ever considered living abroad. A former American-expat-in-Switzerland, Lindsey McLean found her life turned upside down and her identity entirely erased when she left her expat life and moved back home in 2014. The Expat Repat Podcast explores all the ins and outs of expat life, including the biggest one of all: moving home. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Location:
United States
Genres:
Arts & Culture Podcasts
Description:
The Expat Repat Podcast is for expats, repats, and anyone who's ever considered living abroad. A former American-expat-in-Switzerland, Lindsey McLean found her life turned upside down and her identity entirely erased when she left her expat life and moved back home in 2014. The Expat Repat Podcast explores all the ins and outs of expat life, including the biggest one of all: moving home. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Twitter:
@expatrepat
Language:
English
Website:
https://www.expatrepat.ch
Episodes
Mini: American Politics on Impeachment Day
12/19/2019
For this week's mini episode, I read three blog posts (one of which was later taken down by me) that touch on my feelings of dismay surrounding American politics. I have tried to avoid politics, both on Swiss Lark and this podcast, like the plague because I felt so attacked and misunderstood in the months that followed the 2016 election that I went silent on the topic. It's only gotten worse as time has gone on and I do not want to remain silent on this topic anymore. From speaking with...
Duration:00:27:21
Katia Vlachos, How to Prepare for A Great Move
12/12/2019
Katia is an experienced expat, coach and speaker. Her advice is essential for first time expats, seasoned expats and repeats alike. She walks you through the critical preliminary decision making stages using 5 core principles as guideposts. Katia and I talked about the best and worst ages to move with children, she shared with me her philosophy on the importance of the preliminary decision stage of a move - regardless of whether that is a move away from, or back to one's "home", and she...
Duration:00:42:54
Mini: Would visits be enough?
11/20/2019
In this Mini, I read a blog post "Repat: Would Visits Be Enough?" that was published on my blog, Swiss Lark, on July 30, 2018. I chose this post for today because I'm actually feeling a great deal of trepidation regarding my upcoming visit to Zurich in January. I started a conversation about visits home as an expat, or visits back to our expat home as a repat, on Instagram. Given the responses and how this is such a clearly charged issue, this seemed like a good post to share in read-aloud...
Duration:00:10:33
Jessica Drucker, Global Nomad Travel Blogger Turned Repat Author
11/14/2019
Jessica Drucker went to study abroad in Costa Rica as a student at the University of Illinois and didn't return to live in the US for 15 years! During that time she lived in Guatemala, The UK, Germany and then spent 8 years traveling all over the world as a travel blogger.
When extenuating circumstances led to a hasty return to the US from Cusco, Peru, in 2014, Jessica found herself confronted with all sorts of American adulting that she had never known until that point. Getting an...
Duration:00:36:36
Mini: On Missing Zurich
11/7/2019
This week, I'm sharing with you a post from my blog, Swiss Lark, which Rhiannon referred to in last week's episode. Rhiannon described finding my blog during her repatriation like "finding a pot of gold!" and it was this post that I'm reading aloud for today's mini episode that she first found through a random Google search.
If you'd like to see the photos that accompany the post as well as all of my other posts from our time as expats, and since becoming repats, just go to...
Duration:00:07:34
Rhiannon, Temporary Repatriation Lasts Way Longer Than Expected
10/31/2019
Rhiannon is an Australian-Swiss dual citizen who left the land down under to move to Switzerland directly after finishing school. Many years, a Swiss partner and some life experience later, she felt immense pressure to return to Australia and obtain a degree as she had always planned to do.
With a countdown set on her phone, Rhiannon enrolled in a midwifery course, and then for one reason and another, her repatriation ended up lasting way longer than she had originally planned. Because she...
Duration:00:51:45
Mini: Memory Lane
10/24/2019
Lindsey takes a trip down memory lane, looking at old videos and photos from their time in Switzerland. In doing so, she realizes that this is something she never does, and ponders why.
As expats and repats, we share many commonalities. One big one is that we learn to erase our expat lives after we return home. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you avoid photos and videos of your time abroad, too?
If you're enjoying The Expat Repat Podcast, please consider becoming a patron and making a...
Duration:00:05:49
Heather, From Successful in Sweden to Underemployed Repat
10/17/2019
Heather was an expat in Sweden for four years. She describes herself as a non-trailing spouse because while she was there she mastered the Swedish language and attained gainful employment in a Swedish public school. After settling in so soundly, Heather's world was rocked apart when her marriage dissolved and her expat adventure came to an abrupt end, just one year before she, her husband and her recently-turned-18 adult daughter would have been eligible for Swedish citizenship.
Heather was...
Duration:00:52:40
Mini: Season Two Preview and A Look Back at Season One
10/10/2019
Introducing Expat Repat Mini Episodes! In this Mini, we take a look back at Season One, and also get a preview of Season Two. Don't miss the guest line-up as well as an explanation of how the Mini Episodes will be fun, entertaining and interactive, including your input!
As always, please subscribe, rate and review and don't forget to check out our Patreon campaign at www.patreon.com/expatrepat. Thank you for listening!
Duration:00:09:05
Luke Mitchell: From Surviving in Singapore to Thriving Back Home
10/3/2019
Luke Mitchell lived abroad for two years in Japan teaching English after college. Years later, he lived in Madrid for two summers, and then spent two years in Singapore. His repatriation experiences were so different, but the loss he had experienced after Japan made him hesitant to return to expat life.
Luke and I talked about the broken narrative that is expat life. We talked about how homesick he felt in Singapore and how difficult that experience was for him. And we talked about how...
Duration:00:32:51
Brynn Leavitt, Somewhat Reluctant Repat Stay at Home Mom
7/15/2019
Brynn Leavitt is a college sorority sister of mine who coincidentally wound up living abroad as well. We hadn't spoken since college, but I was so thrilled that this show actually connected us again when Brynn found the show after her return to The States following six wonderful years in Reading, England.
Brynn is a secondary teacher of Italian and French taking a sabbatical year to settle into their new life in the US and spend more time with their toddler son. As you can imagine, Brynn...
Duration:01:15:05
Tina Busch, From Lost Repat to Found Purpose
5/19/2019
Tina Busch is a blogger, translator and English coach at tinabusch.com. Tina and her family lived as expats for 5 years in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When an involuntary transfer sent them back to Germany, she was not happy about it, and in the process of the move, completely lost touch with her sense of self. Tina and I talked about how babies in Europe must lie flat, the process she went through to get back in touch with her higher self and discover her life's purpose, and she shared her best...
Duration:00:51:48
Jennifer, Two-Time Californian Repat
4/14/2019
In this episode of the Expat Repat Podcast, I talk with Jennifer, a two-time Californian repat trying to find her way in the US after living in Germany and the UK. Jennifer and her husband feel the eternal itch to move abroad, even after life’s twists and turns and aging parents have brought them back home again - twice. Jennifer talks about the major differences in work culture between the US and Europe and she shared a great tip for those about to repatriate to help remember the little...
Duration:00:36:25
Caroline Allen, International Book Coach
3/9/2019
Caroline Allen is a writer, speaker and book coach at Art of Storytelling. Caroline spent 10 epic years abroad and found the process of repatriating to be brutal. Her advice for repats, and ability to identify the struggles repats face, is epic in itself. This is a must-listen for anyone who's lived abroad and had a hard time moving back home. If you like what you hear, please subscribe on iTunes, be sure to leave us a review and consider joining our Patreon campaign! Thanks for listening.
Duration:00:38:00
Adrielle Stapleton, Recovering Trailing Spouse
2/4/2019
In this episode of the Expat Repat Podcast, I speak with Adrielle Stapleton, a relocation consultant and recovering trailing spouse. Adrielle has a Masters in Classics, has spent the last ten years moving for her husband’s job, and in late 2017, landed in Lexington, Kentucky for a whole new round of culture shock in her own country. Adrielle and I talked about gaining cultural fluency wherever you may find yourself, building a professional and social network from scratch, and her “good...
Duration:00:33:50
Brooke Fox, American Repat with her Very British Husband
1/27/2019
In this episode, I speak with Brooke Fox, an American who repatriated with her very British husband from London to Indianapolis, Indiana in 2015. Three years later, Brooke is still shocked by re-entry and American life. We talked about navigating schools with a high ability, gifted child; how to adjust expectations ahead of repatriating, and what it's been like for her husband to adjust in the heart of the Midwest.
Duration:00:27:54
Glenn and Mari, From Repats to Re-Expats
1/14/2019
In this episode I speak with Californian couple, Glenn and Mari, who discuss their repatriation to the US in 2013. Glenn and Mari shared how they hit a glass ceiling in their expat careers, about their adjustment and non-adjustment to life back home, and how it felt to take the plunge and return to expat life when they moved overseas again in late 2017. Glenn and Mari experienced many ups and downs and surprises, and Mari also talked about how overwhelming US junk mail can be!
Duration:00:27:09
Alison Trainer, From Grumpy Expat to Happy Repat
1/6/2019
In this episode of the Expat Repat Podcast, I talk with Alison Trainer, Opera Singer, University Professor - and Founder of the wildly popular Grumpy Expat closed Facebook Group. Alison was a grumpy expat and decided to leave her expat life behind and split with her Swiss partner when she moved back to the US for a professor position in 2017. Alison and I talked about career and work as an expat woman and mother, international separation with children in the mix, and what makes a happy...
Duration:00:28:45
Chelsea Pyne, American Expat Au Pair in Germany
11/11/2018
Chelsea Pyne moved to Germany at the age of 22 as an Au Pair. While she was there, she found love, mastered the German language, and had to leave way before she was ready to go.
Duration:01:04:59
Kristin Trummer, American-Swiss Expat Repat
11/5/2018
In this episode of the Expat Repat Podcast, I speak with Kristin Trummer, a back and forth American Expat Repat with her Swiss husband. We spoke about schooling in another country, the horrors of nostalgia, and shared our best tips for repatriation.
Duration:01:06:05