Is living abroad a mind-changing experience?

I don't thinking leaving my country has helped them at all - although they might completely disagree.

Living in several countries gave me a broader view of things. It's good to look from the outside in...

Gary wrote:

Living in several countries gave me a broader view of things. It's good to look from the outside in...

Hi Gary,

Yes, this is exactly what I meant by asking... I am actually trying to put up a company where former expats can arrange with their co-nationals online training and online based discussion round tables on what I call "expat coach"... and I am looking for interested people to join and manage their country account. If someone is interested and got the philosophy right, please contact me with a private message.

One of the things I learned is never to compare the country where you currently live to your home country.
It is not far and it doesn't mean that you are better or worse off, it is just different. Sometimes you don't get it yet .

And try to look with a open mind and remember that how you think and judge is the way you grew up with.

Primadonna is right. Never make comparisons and keep an open mind when moving to another country.

In my many years of travelling and working in different countries the above statement has served me well.

If you do make comparisons you are doomed to be disappointed.

Being abroad has changed me a lot.
Northern England has a very local culture; looking inwards only and considering anything outside Yorkshire to be tagged onto the only place to live.
You might very well go for a shopping trip to Manchester but you wouldn't want to live there.
Most people see London as some sort of invading force that taxes us and interferes in our lives with southern ponce laws.
We'll accept people who come from outside Allah's own county as long as they sound like us and behave like us.

Long holidays in Asia gave me a new impression of the world and taught me there was far more to life and the world than was to be seen in Barnsley.

Moving to Indo wasn't that big a culture shock as I'd had a long time in Asia to get used to the way people think and act.
In England, clocks are king and everything is done on time; here, no one gives a rats outside business and then, not always.

I chose to stay here because I believe it to be the better place for me. I love the people, the food and the way people behave (except on the roads).

I couldn't agree more with the comments on this forum.

Living in another country has definitely given me a broader depth on how things are on this side of the world (Bahrain) opposed to the UK where i was raised most of my life.

I always tuned into how things are in the uk and never really thought out of my comfort zone, until i reached Bahrain. Working here in Bahrain has been my first experience working abroad and i only took up the post here by chance. You learn a little bit when you travel abroad on holiday but nothing compared to actually living abroad. So I'm glad i took the plunge and came to live and work here in Bahrain. The wealth of knowledge i gained while being stationed in Bahrain, has been overwhelming. It has given me a pretty good insight of the Middle East.

Being here in Bahrain has allowed me to travel to other countries which has been another useful experience living abroad. I've been sent to Asia and again learning how things operate in that region, adds to your knowledge and experience of the place.

I feel if i was still in the UK i wouldn't have any idea as to how the culture and lifestyle are in other countries. So i can conclude its been an mind changing experience for me..big time

J

at best it can be a career changing experience, if that's the reason of living abroad. New place, new culture, a whole bunch of new friends can only change your state of mind to a small extent but ultimately our mind and heart is where home is.

Yes, you should never compare where you are with where you came from.  It's a lot hotter here than where I came from.  Far more humid, too.  The people aren't as polite and don't even know what hotdish is.  They also drive funny here - and on the wrong side of the road.

living abroad has been a mind altering exp for me...i now realize how much power the media has..i had a lot of preconceived ideas about arab countries..(from watching television) and most of them wrong..one thing i would advise is...when chatting to family online..don't bother to convince them that what you and they thought all this time is wrong..all i do is end up frustrated and annoyed that i can't convince some of them that things aren't how they believe..i find myself getting into heated debates sometimes..

Yes.

MUCH of the blogs and reviews of SE Asia are prejudiced by cultural bias. No it is not Cleveland but further west, so far west that it is the far east. After six months it will all seem normal. The disorder becomes a new kind of order, difference becomes the new normal. What is misunderstood becomes understandable. A little cultural anthropology in the field. Americans and Australians are more provincial than Europeans because they are all over the blasted continent. Not much difference between regions and cultures in the great melting pot a pot that contains too many ingredients becomes a mush as too many colors become muddy brown lacking high points and sophistication.
You have a bunch of tourist who don't know much as the British foreign service has long time residents, the Americans have tourist who just begin to understand when they are transferred, as are generals in command of the wars. Don't believe much of what you read from tourist.
The St. Thomas USVI joke. There was a West Indian who suddenly died. When she met St. Peter she was told that her record was incomplete so she would be given a chance to visit heaven and hell so she could decide for herself where to spend eternity. She when to heaven and it was a boring! Just a bunch of angles sitting around praising god and singing hymns, not up beat at all.
Then she visited hell and it was just like the West Indies, beach party with steel band, rum, sex, dirty dancing and rag gay. So she choose hell. BUT when she returned it was hell, fire and brimstone (what ever that is)
She complained to St. Peter who told her that last time she was a tourist.

I cannot see how going to heaven or hell has anything to do with living abroad !!

there was a study that came out recently showing that your brain is indeed changed when you live abroad:

http://honorsadvising.blog.wku.edu/2013 … olar-says/

Thanks ECS... interesting study..so now i will have issues when i return home.. after being one year abroad (reverse culture shock)..but at least after reading the article i am now aware of it.

If living abroad is a "mind-changing" experience then why is it that i see inappropriate, egocentric and rude posts on the Expatblog assuming that everyone on here is an expat?
[rhetorical question]

Hericles wrote:

If living abroad is a "mind-changing" experience then why is it that i see inappropriate, egocentric and rude posts on the Expatblog assuming that everyone on here is an expat?
[rhetorical question]

mind changing doesn't necessarily mean mind-expanding or that the change increases tolerance and understanding for other viewpoints.

ECS wrote:

mind changing doesn't necessarily mean mind-expanding or that the change increases tolerance and understanding for other viewpoints.

I see you are living in a different country now so tell me What does it really mean then?

not sure what "it" you are referring to but I've definitely seen people who become more cynical and pro-home-country after living for years abroad. The distance makes them think everything about their home country is better/more efficient/smarter/nicer/cooler/cleaner than wherever they are living. It doesn't always make people sunshiny let's-all-be-friends optimists.

However, I wasn't commenting on my own experience of how my perspective has changed after moving. I've been away too long to separate my increased age from my life abroad when it comes to determining what has changed in the way I think.

to Hericles,

Normally and correctly, a forum for expat is a forum for expats. I think one being here as not expat is a kind of a light abuse, but expecting people to accept and understand your light abuse as normal and to considere it when "living" on forum, (meaning taking into account that no all here are expats), is a wrong thinking. Is your assumptions that are to be changed.

to all others,

I never considered native country as per se, I live as me, and not perceive myself as a national. It happened that I went born on a country where things didn´t went all so well for me. I moved, and discovered things didn´t went all so well for me in the other country, also. But the experience in itself made me aware of things about places I left. Probably when I will leave the current country will see things differently on this place, too.

Leaving a place seems to be the key...

well, it gave me a broader world view, that's for sure.. and I learnt to appreciate different cultures, languages, etc. That said, it's hard to adapt to a new place, especially when your identity and culture is already firmly entrenched.

stumpy wrote:

I cannot see how going to heaven or hell has anything to do with living abroad !!

That was part of a message that he pasted on several different topics.

lumierre wrote:

Normally and correctly, a forum for expat is a forum for expats. I think one being here as not expat is a kind of a light abuse, but expecting people to accept and understand your light abuse as normal and to considere it when "living" on forum, (meaning taking into account that no all here are expats), is a wrong thinking. Is your assumptions that are to be changed.

There's no rule that says you have to be an expat to be a member of this site.  Some people come here to talk and get information before they move.

It so happens that I posted a short essay on my blogsite called "Broadening the mind" just two weeks ago. My last paragraph said, The belief in my country, right or wrong is not compatible with an open mind. How could it be? Im always sorry to see the belief surviving in expats, who really should know better.

Those words pretty much sum up my position. (Check my Archives for the whole thing, if you want.) I left home at age 23 as a one-eyed patriot, intending to see what I could of the world before coming back to a secure partnership in an accounting firm. After a couple of years' travel and work, I realised how limited an outlook that was. I found that "home" was where I hung my hat, and I could be loyal to wherever that was, for as long as I was there.

Before my departure, a friend of my Dad's assured me there was no risk of my being away forever. Why not? "Because Australia is the greatest country in the world", he said. "Why wouldn't you come back?" That, from someone who had never been in any other country.

Now, I (we, with the wife) could live anywhere. We're spoilt for choice.

In repsonse to HaileyinHongKong

Yes, they do and it normal for them. That does not nulify the fact an expat forum is an expat forum. Is not about a rule, is about common sense.

agree lumiere...there so much info on the net.. i found all i needed about the country i was moving to etc without using expats page.. .expat means expat..and it should be for that only..otherwise it turns into something else...maybe it needs a name change then..expats and everyone else!!!

Well I'm British but grew up in Saudi Arabia. Although I was born there and spent most of my life there, it's still a country I don't fully understand or consider to be my "home". I feel being part of an international society has helped me understand other cultures and appreciate different ways of life. I definitely recommend visiting a country that is outside of what you consider to be "normal".

HI Jonex...yes it definitely expands our views on the world...i viewed other countries with tunnel vision until i moved to Africa...not what i thought at all!

Getting out of your comfort zone is always a mind expanding event.

Certainly being an expat and living in a different country, being exposed to a new culture can be a mind changing experience. This is especially true if you are an open-minded person in the first place and even moreso if you embrace the new culture and look at life in your host country from the perspective of the locals.

I've been here in Brazil for over eleven years now, have become more Brazilian than I ever imagined possible. I had a great understanding of the culture, history and language of the country before I arrived and that has only become even more profound over the years.

I have never really lived as a "gringo", but rather lived among the average Brazilian population and I've come to look at everything through their eyes. I do relate what I see, read, hear and experience back to my Canadian mindset and thus see the other side of the coin in all situations too.

So yes, for me at least it really was a mind changing experience.

  Cheers,
  William James Woodward Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

lumierre wrote:

In repsonse to HaileyinHongKong

Yes, they do and it normal for them. That does not nulify the fact an expat forum is an expat forum. Is not about a rule, is about common sense.

sandyrose53 wrote:

agree lumiere...there so much info on the net.. i found all i needed about the country i was moving to etc without using expats page.. .expat means expat..and it should be for that only..otherwise it turns into something else...maybe it needs a name change then..expats and everyone else!!!

So Julien should ban everyone who's not an expat and we should all ignore every question by people looking for a little information?

wjwoodward wrote:

Certainly being an expat and living in a different country, being exposed to a new culture can be a mind changing experience. This is especially true if you are an open-minded person in the first place and even moreso if you embrace the new culture and look at life in your host country from the perspective of the locals.

The problem is that a lot of people are nowhere close to open minded and many expats never embrace their new culture.  This site is full of people who want everything their way.  Imagine how many people are like that offline.

You are taking that too far. Who said something about banning? We are just discussing common sense and the complaints from the non-expats present here that they are "mistakenly" assumed as expats - which is, clearly, a natural mistake, since this is an expat forum
however, I think we all know people in real life and more likely in the virtual one tend to cross the broders and abuse the systems, and some light abuses that not being an expat but being present here is no reason for ban, unless the forum is strictly managed by germans

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

lumierre wrote:

In repsonse to HaileyinHongKong

Yes, they do and it normal for them. That does not nulify the fact an expat forum is an expat forum. Is not about a rule, is about common sense.

sandyrose53 wrote:

agree lumiere...there so much info on the net.. i found all i needed about the country i was moving to etc without using expats page.. .expat means expat..and it should be for that only..otherwise it turns into something else...maybe it needs a name change then..expats and everyone else!!!

So Julien should ban everyone who's not an expat and we should all ignore every question by people looking for a little information?

Perhaps you could share us something from your own experience, instead of thinking in the shoes of others. I imagine that, as an animator, you really had known a lot of people and would be really interesting for me, at least, to know more about your personal experiences and thoughts.

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

wjwoodward wrote:

Certainly being an expat and living in a different country, being exposed to a new culture can be a mind changing experience. This is especially true if you are an open-minded person in the first place and even moreso if you embrace the new culture and look at life in your host country from the perspective of the locals.

The problem is that a lot of people are nowhere close to open minded and many expats never embrace their new culture.  This site is full of people who want everything their way.  Imagine how many people are like that offline.

lumierre wrote:

You are taking that too far. Who said something about banning? We are just discussing common sense and the complaints from the non-expats present here that they are "mistakenly" assumed as expats - which is, clearly, a natural mistake, since this is an expat forum
however, I think we all know people in real life and more likely in the virtual one tend to cross the broders and abuse the systems, and some light abuses that not being an expat but being present here is no reason for ban, unless the forum is strictly managed by germans

Then I don't understand what you're saying.  Anyone on this site who isn't an expat is guilty of "abuse", but should not be disciplined?  Why should abuse be ignored?

You don't have to worry about Germans.  This site is run by mostly French people.

lumierre wrote:

Perhaps you could share us something from your own experience, instead of thinking in the shoes of others. I imagine that, as an animator, you really had known a lot of people and would be really interesting for me, at least, to know more about your personal experiences and thoughts.

Where I come from, the ability to "think in the shoes of others" is considered a very good thing.

I sometimes think at that on the perspective that mostly because life is not about disciplining others, but yourself...

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

Then I don't understand what you're saying.  Anyone on this site who isn't an expat is guilty of "abuse", but should not be disciplined?  Why should abuse be ignored?

well hailey... i think julien banning all non expats would be taking things to the extreme...

I don't think people who are non expats should use this site..just my view..personally i would never join a site that was not meant for me...but takes all sorts..i guess! that is what makes the world an interesting place to be...

there are some non expats using this site for non legitimate means..judging by some of the emails i receive...so they're not all on here looking to have questions answered.

There are some expats using this site questionably.  I wouldn't use that to discount all of us.