Category Archives: Tips

Flights and Heartstrings: Navigating Family, Friends, and Feelings from Afar

Being away when family and friends celebrate or grieve is heart wrenching. Having decide whether to return in the middle of a crisis makes everything worse, but there is a better way. In this article, the Prepared Expat shows you that way and offers a free tool to help you plan!

Pillow Talk: How Sleep Solidifies Language Learning

There’s lots of tasks necessary to master a language, but intriguing research shows the most important is something you’ve probably never considered.

Expat Health Insurance Demystified: Your Essential Guide

Navigating health insurance as an expat can be complex. This guide will help you know how to buy health insurance as an expat, what coverage to get, and how to use it while in your host country.

Discovering the Past: How History Shapes Cultural Understanding

If you don’t understand a people’s history, you won’t understand their culture. Learn why this is so + tips for understanding your host’s history from The Prepared Expat.

The Art of Gratitude: An Expat’s Journey to Joy

Practicing gratitude is vital for expats who want to thrive in their host culture, since gratitude helps balance cultural experiences, reduces stress, enables deep relationships, and reshapes what one notices. Learn more and tips for practicing gratitude in this latest tip from The Prepared Expat!

How Not to Be Raging Mad at Your Host Culture, Part 2

You’ve encountered cultural differences that frustrate or enrage you. The Prepared Expat shares a 4-step process to help you respond with understanding and humility, no matter what that difference is.

Shake Off the Foreigner Label with Actionable Language Learning Tips

Best-selling author Lawrence Feldman shares anecdotes and advice on the importance of learning the local language when living abroad. He suggests the key to embracing another culture lies in communication and understanding of its language, and offers practical tips on how to make learning a language a habit.

How Not to Be Raging Mad at Your Host Culture, Part 1

Feeling frustrated with cultural differences as an expat? Learn how to avoid Raging Expat Syndrome by understanding norms, values, and embracing empathy.