Starting a new life abroad usually involves discovering new cultures, traditions, and way of life. For those who are keen to learn more about Western and Eastern cultural differences, here are our top five bloggers sharing their views about culture and their everyday life overseas.
Be Marie Korea
Born in Belgium, Marie spent a big part of her life in England before moving to East Asia. During her studies, an exchange program with a Chinese university led her to traveling to Japan and South Korea. She even met her Korean husband during one of her trips. Nowadays, she is a designer and freelance travel writer in Seoul. In Be Marie Korea, Marie talks not only about her everyday life in South Korea for the past three years, but also about local cultures and traditions that most tourists or visitors may not know about. She also shares tips about interesting things to see and to do in the country.
Stuart Oswald – Colombia
Stuart is passionnate about blogging, vlogging, and podding. British expat, Stuart spent many years traveling Europe and Asia, especially Japan, before moving to Colombia, and maintains a blog documenting his expat life in Colombia. Colombia was for him a vast undiscovered country where he was able to focus on some of his professional and personal projects. He also worked on a series of insightful documentaries aiming at providing his readers with a different view of Colombia, highlighting its historical, cultural, and traditional aspects. You can follow his adventures and learn about the hidden gems of Colombia on his blog.
Thinking Spanglish
Thinking Spanglish is a blog dedicated to Spanglophiles and Spanish learners, reflecting the thinking of an English teacher living in Madrid and learning Spanish. Melissa is a British expat who has always been passionate about Spanish life and culture. Even though she spends most of her time speaking and teaching English, she took up the challenge of learning Spanish. The reason she started her blog is to help expats who, like her, have moved to a Spanish-speaking country with a basic language level. Melissa shares her reviews, life experiences, and cultural reflections about Spain and whatever else has helped her in the language learning process.
Cowbells and Chocolate
American expat born in Florida, Lisa has been traveling a lot with her family since very young. When she was in high school, she met a Swiss foreign exchange student and fell in love. Following a five-year long-distance relationship including a couple of holiday trips, they got married and moved to Berne. That was the beginning of Lisa's new adventure that she shares on her blog Cowbells and Chocolate. For those looking for some background information about the Swiss way of life, beyond the clichés, it's the right place to be! From traditional Swiss recipes to jokes and learning the languages, she gives you a comprehensive insight about what life looks like in Switzerland.
Some people juggle geese
Moving to Singapore came as a pleasant surprise for Lucy Day, an American expat. Born it Atlanta, she went to study in Chicago where she met her now husband. They graduated together and eventually got married in the USA. A few years later, her husband was awarded a post doctoral fellowship in Singapore and this is how began a new chapter of their life. Passionate about teaching, writing, and editing, Lucy Day holds a blog called Some people juggle geese where she talks about her everyday life, places she has visited, unusual things happening as part of the local culture, not to mention her views about Singlish, the local language.
