Exlander

What was it like to meet and greet Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. or shake hands with the Japanese emperor? And why do girls in Japan wear shoes two sizes bigger than their feet? And why is Switzerland a country she will always come back to even after leaving her diplomatic status? The journey of serving her homeland started as a pure coincidence a few decades ago in Cyprus when Czechoslovakia still existed as a repressive totalitarian state where freedom was forbidden. She decided to do a better job one day as a citizen and here she is today, an appointed ambassador of Czechia in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, in one of the highest diplomatic positions. Luckily, times change!

How does one become affected by the process of expatriation when the decision to migrate is made by the family? And what challenges does it pose for teenagers, respectively? Is going back to your heritage a different experience than any other form of emigration?  Stephanie Meister came to Switzerland as a teenage child and has tried to find a suitable answer to the million-dollar question "where is home for you?" ever since. After navigating her career path as a psychologist with some initial hardships she had to overcome, she has been working as a career coach for stedtnitz. design your Life GmbH in Zurich. What a story! Find out more about what she does here:  www.stedtnitz.ch https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-meister-694749106/

Moving abroad is a challenge in itself, yet giving up your career and leaving your comfort zone may feel even more challenging. Hanka Hurábová did exactly both. And it has not been an easy decision as she admits. Why did she decide to stay at home with her children and how did she end up cooperating with tourist agencies like Wandermagazin Schweiz or Ticino Turismo? Does she regret any of her decisions and what does she find peculiar about the Swiss way of life?  If you are into hiking and travelling, find out more here:  https://www.ourswissexperience.com/en/ Instagram & Facebook: our_swiss_experience

Isabelle Litzler is a career coach, solopreneur and a true business woman who knows everything about working with expats. She herself has been living the expat life since her late teenage years and has a good insight in all the Do's and Don'ts with regard to the whole expat experience package.  An absolute must if you are thinking about moving to Switzerland or have just landed here, and-of course-if you want to hear another interesting life path all the way from France to California and back.  Find out more about Isabelle here: https://www.isabellelitzler.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRmhATYXSWGVB2c0C6mL3Iw?view_as=subscriber

This time a bit different: two ladies from the same region, yet from different countries, sharing their expat experiences from the perspective of a single relocating for a job and a better future to Belgium and Germany. Polyglots, language and translation professionals, expat souls and my friends whom I met on my internship in the EU Parliament in Luxembourg have been my dear guests on Exlander.  Petra Mesić relocated to Germany from Croatia for a job at Electronic Arts and has pursued her career within a different company since then. She has shared some of the culture shocks she initially encountered, her single online dating expat experience (spoiler alert: not all Germans are polyamorous:-) and her realistic, yet emotional relationship to her homeland.  During the covid pandemic she started a youtube channel called Piotra and as an avid trained choi singer she has released a song playing ukulele:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQRDG05uEIYMEA3X2aKYKPg Aleksandra Starčević is of Serbian origin and comes from Slovenia. She works at the European Network of Political Foundations in Brussels and has lived in Luxembourg, Iceland and Portugal before settling in Belgium. She has shared bits and pieces of what it is like to live in the EU bubble, her relationship towards the Balkans and what the expat single experience looks like. If you want to hear some tips on how to integrate as a single expat abroad and yet learn something new, this episode is an absolute must.  *update: Germany is no longer in the harsh lockdown as it was when recording this episode. Let's celebrate!:-)

Ania Kolbuszewska is a top-class educational consultant, manager, language teacher, teacher trainer and a mediator who has agreed to share her experience of what it means to be an expat with an expiry date. She relocated from Poland to Switzerland and then back to Poland. And even though she was concious of the reversed culture shock, it hit her harder than expected.  An absolute must listen for anyone who is relocating back home after several years abroad or who is craving some useful tips to overcome the initial culture shock both ways...and of course, many other interesting topics as usual:-) You can find out more about Ania here:  https://pl.linkedin.com/in/ania-kolbuszewska https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy1P60_tgSbEsr9pBDMekHg

David Duc is a young entrepreneur and a founder of the company TikTokuj.cz. Although he has spent the majority of his life in Czechia, he would always claim he is Vietnamese first. We talked about what he misses about Vietnam, what some of the most common Asian stereotypes are and what motivated him to start an online business from scratch. And much more! An absolute must for anyone who is into online & social media marketing, cross-cultural experience and a good portion of subtle yet slightly politically incorrect fun:-)  www.tiktokuj.cz /@dave.duc on Instagram

One doesn't have to agree with everything Juraj says to admit that he has some real balls. Leaving everything at the age of 34 to move to a foreign country with no knowledge of French and starting from scratch, that requires some portion of courage and perseverance which is not for everyone. This interview is full of motivation and inspiration, overcoming obstacles and brutal honesty about how you have to adapt your mindset if you want to achieve your biggest dream. He runs his own content creating business and in order to have a glimpse into what the final result of his creative process looks like you can visit his Instagram profile: nowornevervdo or find him under https://nowornevervdo.ch.

Another interview is a portion of brutal honesty about life in general, particularly then about coping with the midlife corporate crisis, the privilege he experienced as a Brit coming to Prague in the 90s, the challenges of bilingualism and about finding his home in Czechia.  Roderick Lambert is a life coach who exited the C-suite corporate life to find peace and time for things he really loves.  https://cz.linkedin.com/in/rodericklambert

In this interview I was talking to Sebestian who relocated from the Switzerland in Asia to real Switzerland in Zurich. An episode full of brutal honesty, challenging topics and lots of fun, what a ride!