Episode 173 - Lessons Learned Living Abroad for 10 Years: Visas, Language Barriers and Letting Go with Faith Mabry

Allison interviews her friend Faith Mabry who she met on a trip to The Netherlands last fall. The two crossed paths at Faith’s second hand designer store and immediately hit it off. They ended up going to dinner the next night and Allison stayed at Faith’s for a week in her spare bedroom.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about moving abroad, making friends in a new city and how to take the leap so we thought it would be perfect to have Faith come on the show as she has been living abroad for almost a decade now!

ABOUT FAITH MABRY:

Faith shares her experience growing up in California and how her love for music inspired her to travel and attend various festivals. The venues, fashion and festival goers helped broaden her perspective which made her want to travel more. When the opportunity to study abroad in Europe in 2015 was presented, she jumped at it and has been living abroad since!

Faith shares her love story of meeting her husband in Amsterdam, living in Australia and The Netherlands. While living abroad is a beautiful life-changing experience, we keep it real by discussing the challenges, including letting go of your old life and building a new one, not being able to come home for every family emergency and more.

TAKEAWAYS:

Moving abroad can be a challenging but rewarding experience
Language barriers can be overcome with time and effort
Integrating into a new community requires openness and willingness to learn
Hobbies and interests can shape our experiences and help us connect
Being vulnerable can lead to unexpected love stories.
Moving to a new country requires effort to integrate and learn the language
Inviting people is key to building connections in a new place
Making friends with locals can be challenging as they are settled in their lives
Establishing a home and roots in a new country takes time and investment
Maintaining relationships with people back home can be challenging
Living abroad means letting go of the old life and building a new one