Moving abroad is so exciting. It really is – until you come to the point of being away so long from your home country, you experience the shock of how you ‘used’ to live. That is called reverse culture shock.
Coping with being a ‘long-term’ expat is often overlooked. We always think about what the culture shock will mean to us when we get there. But what about when we come back from where we came from? It can really effect your sense of identity and belonging.
I have always identified with being a girl from the great Pacific Northwest; a loud, liberal, boisterous and opinionated American that loves to have a good time and admires anyone with an overwhelming sense of pop-culture. For me, I feel expanded from living abroad. Like I have been struck by lightning and now I have some kind of superpower that no one else from back home has.
However, whenever I make the 16-hour flight back stateside, just the sound of fluent English makes me eavesdrop like a crazy person. Supermarkets feel like the Taj Mahal and the shine on those apples? 🤤 How about everyone head-to-toe in Seattle Seahawks merchandise for ‘Blue Monday’ NFL fever.
I get into arguments too. Comparing Sweden’s amazing social benefits and showcasing why socialism isn’t that scary. I am shocked that many people from back home don’t even know where Sweden is, or when I explain my adventures to another country, I need to show it on a map. It also ignites to improve my forever-passion in travel videography. I want those less traveled to see that these ‘far away lands’ are just full of people – just a different way of life. Beautiful life.
I am the odd one out in Sweden because I am a foreigner, and I am the ghost-of-a-citizen in the U.S. because I live abroad and have outsider’s views. There is really no middle ground of ultimate acceptance if someone chooses to be a long-term expat. You will go through the culture shock of not being 100% of anything.
I have a lot of ‘what if’ moments. What if I had never moved to Europe, and just stayed put? How would my relationships with friends have progressed? What paths in my life would have unraveled if I had met other people?
These are things we will never know; a ‘what if life’ that hangs in parallel with our own. I think that is why I am a wild card when it comes to life paths. I think about the ‘what ifs’ and try my best to experience all my options and make the right choice. Sometimes that choice might mean I belong everywhere. I’m okay with that.
