Black Women's Empowerment

Calling All Expats!

BW airplane silhouette

We have so many BW here who have worked, taught or studied abroad. On travel posts, a wealth of information often comes out in the comments section. So, let’s dish on our experiences abroad for readers who may be watching from the sidelines, gaining the courage for a big jump. Hair? Taxes? Belongings? Visas? Cultural faux paus? Making friends? Let’s give the down and dirty. Just what has your experience been making the move to live and/or work outside of America?

I can start with mine – I spent a summer working in finance in Holland back in college. I was working for a large company so all of the technical details were taken care of. As far as hair, the first time I washed my hair and proceeded to plug in and turn my American hooded dryer on, there were weird noises like it was turning into a spaceship, followed by blue flashes of light and finally smoke. I was natural the rest of the summer, having finally painfully understood the difference between an adapter versus a converter. I had acrylic nails at the time and it did take awhile to find a nail salon. I was surprised to see that many were black owned and formed a lovely relationship with an African woman over the summer.

As far as connecting, my co-workers were all older with their own families and from all over the world (really just doing a year or so in Holland) and I never hooked up with an expat community; I met a group of Americans at the company who left a week or so after I arrived.

If I could do things over, one thing I do differently is being more adventurous and traveling to other countries. While I did a TON of local sightseeing every weekend, I worked so much I really couldn’t travel outside of Holland. I should have made the time.

Okay, I’ve dished! What experiences have YOU had abroad?

Follow Christelyn on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you want to be a little more about this online dating thing, InterracialDatingCentral is the official dating site for this blog.

WATCH NEXT