Easy Like Sunday Morning
“It’s easy for you—you live abroad, you’ve got money and a cushy job.”
That’s the most common line I hear from people in my “passport country.” Those who never left seem convinced that the moment we landed, a red carpet was rolled out.
Yep, I passed passport control and bang! |A well-paid job hit me in the face. I stepped out of the airport and was smothered by a storm of accommodation offers. I struggled to pick one. Everywhere I went, I felt like a goddess. People even spoke my language. Can you believe it? You probably never left your couch.
The Reality Check
But those who actually stuffed their lives into a single suitcase and braved the unknown know it’s nothing like that. Not even close. We “Abroadiens” had to jump through hoops, ride the storm of emotions, embarrassment, and uncertainty. I was broke, living in a house where plants crept into the bedroom through the roof. Toothpaste froze in the bathroom. More often than not, I slept in a hoodie.
Flashes of Magic
Still, in between the chaos, there were flashes of magic. The first time I managed a full conversation in another language, when I ordered something I was actually willing to eat, the random strangers who became friends, the sense of building a life from scratch, it was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. Well, I am still building it, and sometimes I still fall flat on my face, but now I can stand up without crying into a duvet all night.
From the Bottom
Job? I started right from the bottom, cleaning toilets. Nobody cared that I had a Master’s degree. I had to work my arse off, learn the lingo, and wrestle with the culture just to find my feet.
And for those of us with kids, it’s a whole extra juggling act. Over beers, we swap stories of praying the kid isn’t sick, stressing about school holidays, and doing the maths to cover them. Living abroad isn’t a red carpet. It’s mastering public transport like a detective, ordering food like a game show contestant, and laughing at yourself when nothing goes as planned—or when your little precious mini-you throws up on you on public transport, and you, with the calmness of a frozen statue, just let the stream finish and clean yourself off, ignoring the shocked faces around you. 🌍💛
Even after so many years, it’s still messy, chaotic… and totally worth it.
The Truth
Here’s the truth: living abroad stripped us down to zero and forced us to rebuild. Every embarrassing mistake and every small win stitched together a version of us that never could have existed if we hadn’t packed that suitcase. And even when we were broke, cold, and lost in translation, we wouldn’t have traded it—because every disaster came with a story, and those stories became our survival kit.
And trust me, the stories could fill one thick book.
Cheers to Us
So cheers to us “Abroadiens”—who struggled but won, who mastered the language, and who somehow made lemonade out of all those lemons. Living abroad doesn’t hand you a red carpet. It teaches you how to roll out your own.
Confused by the word Abroadien? Read Abroadien – The Word for People Who Truly Live Abroad.