I’m (ahem) in my 30s. I was born in Canada, but grew up in Chicago. I was transferred to London and lived there for seven years until I moved to San Francisco last autumn.
How long have you lived there and how long will you stay? What keeps you there?
When I first moved to London, I was on a one-year contract with my employer, but I found one year was only just enough to get my feet wet. I ended up leaving the company and I started freelance/contract work. For the first few years if anyone would ask, I’d say “I think I’ll be here for another year, year-and-a-half.” After awhile people stopped asking as I obviously didn’t know the answer anyway! I guess once you make a life in the new place, it doesn’t feel like a pit stop, so you don’t keep evaluating what’s keeping you there – you’re just living there.
What do you do to make a living?
I am a digital marketing consultant. I have an agency background and I started doing freelance and contract work after the first year in London. I would work within an agency in the client services department. Over time, I started getting clients of my own and doing less work through agencies.
Describe your average weekday and weekend day.
Now that I’m back in San Francisco, I spend a lot more time enjoying the beautiful scenery, especially on weekends. In London I was an avid theatre-goer and even had my theatre review blog featured in TIME magazine (http://www.fivewordreviews.blogspot.com). I also traveled around Europe a lot. I definitely miss both of those things, but I am trying to enjoy what’s at my doorstep now.
What skills have you learned while living abroad?
How to go on vacation, not think about work and not feel guilty about it.
What are you missing (professionally) by not being in your home country?
While I was in London I missed out on adding money to my 401(k) and I think that the time away will impact future social security (if it’s still around…). Professionally, I gained a lot, but found when I went to San Francisco that the global experience was not as valued as I would have thought. If I had stayed in one (or two) agencies, I probably would have moved up the ladder and had a different, more traditional career. Then again, I probably would have gotten bored by that.
If you could live anywhere, where would that be and why?
I would like to live in Italy one day. It’s my favorite place to visit; the cultural richness is astounding.
What is your favorite gadget that makes your work life abroad better?
Although not a gadget, Skype has been a fantastic development. Nearly every expat that I know uses it. It’s also enabled me to keep working with UK clients. I have set up both a U.S. and a UK Skype In number so anyone in either country can call me without international fees.
Do you have a favorite book that inspired you to travel or consider a different way of living?
I don’t know. I really always wanted to live overseas, so I can’t remember that far back to figure out what inspired me. I somehow did not think it was feasible when I was in my 20s, but the opportunity came up to get transferred to London and literally three days later I was on a plane to start my new job. (I came back after about a month to pack up my old apartment.) Early travel experiences probably played a part, too. Of course, I was born in Canada and we moved to the U.S. when I was in grade school, so technically I’ve been an expat most of my life. I spent a summer in Quebec city during university and that was an experience for which I’m grateful. In my first job out of university I was able to go on a business trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Once I had traveled to manufacturing plants in the back roads of China, I figured that traveling to a country where I knew the language would be much easier. I traveled to Paris shortly after that, and the travel bug has had its teeth deep into me ever since.
Other than yours, do you have a favorite expat blog?
I started my first blog (A Year, A Broad) when I first moved the UK in February 2003. Not that many people were blogging back then! So it’s great that there is now a community of expat bloggers. I follow other expats and “repats” on twitter and read a lot of blogs. Mike Barish’s blog makes me laugh.
On a side note, I turned my first expat blog “A Year, A Broad” into the first show based on a blog at the London Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
