Geopats Life Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals

Geopats Abroad is about what helps us feel grounded while lin our life abroad.

For eight years of my serial expat life, I interviewed people about the things that helped them understand, adjust to, and feel more connected to the places they were living.

The original Geopats Abroad podcast ended in 2022, but the conversations still hold up. This Substack is where I’m bringing that archive back to life.

Living Abroad, Culture, Identity, and Belonging

I’m tidying up the older episodes to make them easier to find and listen to because more and more people are making the leap to living outside their passport country. In these conversations, you’ll find stories from expats, immigrants, international students, long-term travelers, and people whose lives don’t fit neatly into one place.

The driving force of the podcast is my own curiosity and desire to connect with other internationals globally. This isn’t just an audio project, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a Substack. It’s a very personal project. It’s part of who I am and who I was while recording these conversations.

Some episodes are practical. Others are deeply personal. Most explore the small and big things that help us make sense of a new place and feel more at home in it.

What Geopats Abroad Explores

Each season of Geopats Abroad approaches getting comfortable in our new places from a different angle.

Season 1: Guests looked back at something they had written during an earlier period of living abroad, including emails, blog posts, and social media posts, and reflected on how they saw that experience differently later.

Seasons 2 and 3: Language learning. Season 2 focused on foreigners learning Mandarin Chinese, while Season 3 featured native Chinese speakers talking about learning English and other languages.

Seasons 4 and 5: Online communities that helped people feel more connected and at home in a new place.

Season 6: Books that helped people understand the places they were living in.

Season 7: Conversations about learning languages other than Chinese.

Season 8: Coffee and the role it can play in connecting to a place.

Season 9: Podcasting globally: how it’s similar and different. And of course, how it can connect us to each other in our new culture.

Season 10: A mixed season covering music, photography, returning home, and other parts of life abroad.

Season 11: Immigrant kids who later became expats, exploring how growing up between cultures shaped the way they experienced living abroad as adults.

About Stephanie Fuccio: Serial Expat Since 2003

I’m Stephanie Fuccio. I’ve mostly been living and working outside the U.S. since 2003 and have lived in Asia, Latin America, and Europe during this time.

My own experiences with culture shock, identity, belonging, language, and building a life abroad shaped many of the questions behind Geopats Abroad.

The podcast grew from my curiosity about what helps people feel grounded in a new place, how we build connection far from where we started, and how living abroad changes the way we understand home, culture, identity, and ourselves.

Geopats is my ongoing archive of those conversations.

Podcasting since 2018 • 92 episodes

Geopats Life Abroad : Chats with expats, immigrants, and locals

Latest Episodes

A German American Household & Life Abroad in China and Thailand: S11E4

Have you ever wondered why your immigrant parent(s) didn't prepare you for being a global citizen? Chelsea thought this when she was struggling in her first expat place. Over time she began to understand the distinct difference bet...

August 25, 2022 • 38:29

Life Abroad in Thailand, the Czech Republic, and Mexico After Growing Up In A Chilean American Household:: S11E3

How much do our immigrant parents impact our adult expat experiences? This is what we're exploring in this conversation with return guest Alison. Alison and I dig into growing up with two unequal cultures in one household, th...

August 18, 2022 • 43:38

From Immigrant Roots to Expat Life: Growing Up with Immigrant Parents and Living Abroad: S11E2

Questions about family can be triggering if the experience was not ideal. This is one of the reasons that Steph's talked about her family in tiny drips here and there but not in depth. But it felt disingenuous to ask other expats to open up abo...

August 11, 2022 • 42:07

Montreal to Shanghai: A Greek Canadian Expat Story: S11E1

Have your immigrant parents ever visited you in any of your expat places? Georges' parents have and it shifted how he understood their struggles moving from Greece to Canada. We cover a lot more ground on his parents' immigrant story and how it...

August 04, 2022 • 45:42

Damon Castillo on Making Music, Letting Go, and Creating for Others: S10E5

This episode is really special for me. Last month for NaPodPoMo I had the extreme pleasure of chatting with Damon Castillo for this episode. Yes, THE Damon Castillo of the Mess of Me album that we've been using for the past 2 years in all of th...

February 10, 2022 • 34:03

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