An earth odyssey

An expatriate, or expat for short, is someone from one country choosing to live in another, while still maintaining their citizenship to their home country. They are willing to deal with the issues of living in a whole other culture. Listed below are just a few problems many expats deal with on a day to day basis.

• Misconceptions about foreigners
• Different customs
• New ethics or morals of host country
• Currency exchange
• Language barriers

However, just ask any long time expat and he or she will tell you that despite any problems, the rewards are well worth it. To see more of the world, to know your fellow man, to wake up one morning and instead of seeing a concrete jungle you wake up and see a real jungle. To wade neck deep in an alien way of life that is both strikingly different yet hauntingly familiar.

 These people go well beyond the simple tourist who is only there for a taste of the exotic, the expat seeks complete immersion into another way of life.

The wanderlust

As stated before the expat differs in many big ways from the tourist. The most fundamental difference between these two types of world travelers is that expats are there to stay and a tourist is there to sight-see. For expats becoming a part of the culture is the goal,learning the way of the native people far out ways simply observing them.

For the expat the farther removed from the everyday norm the better, going to places where many would feel out fo their element.