Click here to get in touch Hi everyone, I'd like to share a brief reflection on the theme of community and belonging. Did you know that the absence of a sense of belonging can evoke feelings similar to physical pain? Conversely, experiencing a sense of belonging can foster happiness and a feeling of security. Growing up in a tight-knit community, leaving my home sparked a journey to fit in and find a sense of belonging elsewhere. Community plays a pivotal role in our lives. Despite the...

Click here to get in touch Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Maike Baessler from Germany. After finishing high school in 2009, Maike decided to take a gap year abroad before starting University. She went to Long Island, close to New York City, as an au pair through the agency "Cultural Care Au Pair" where she learned a lot about new cultures, childcare and she was able to improve her English.  Important to notice: This has been 15 years ago and she has not been using much of her English...

Click here to get in touch Hi Everyone, Please welcome with me Smit Banker from India. Smit was born and raised in India and decided to move abroad to continue his studies. He came to New Zealand in 2018 and stayed here ever since. In this episode we will talk about a very sensitive topic: Arranged marriage! Disclaimer: There are still a lot of forced arranged marriages out there and I do not support this! We are only talking about Smits point of view, his experience and his thoughts...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Adrienne Jansen from New Zealand. Adrienne is a creative writing teacher, tutor, editor and writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She also has been a writer for the famous Te Papa museum in Wellington for over 10 years. A big part of her work was teaching English to non-native English speaker and she worked closely with immigrants throughout her life. Find out more about her work: https://adriennejansen.co.nz/ https://www.landingpressnz.com/ In this...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Daniel Gerardo Ytterdahl (Denial RC) from Norway. Daniel grew up in Norway as a son of a Filipina mother and a Norwegian father. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Norway before he made the move to the Philippines in 2012. Still living in the Philippines, he is now making a name for himself as Denial RC, a talented solo artist and rapper who loves rapping in different languages. He is also a member of several rap collectives like Agaron,...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Richard Woolford from the UK. Rich started his journey in 2015 where he travelled to most Asian countries before he visited New Zealand and Australia. He went back home for a visit (and a longer stay during covid) and continued his full-time travels until the end of 2023. And where he went after leaving New Zealand he will tell us in this episode. :) You can also follow him and his video blog on YouTube where he is sharing breathtaking footage of amazing...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Doreen Ignacio-Abrigo from the Philippines. Doreen moved to New Zealand as a teenager after her dad spent three years in this country due to work. The whole family moved over and joined him in 2009. Now, Doreen has settled down and has started her own little family with having her little boy Joseph. She also started a little business where she sells her baking and some other treats through her page called "Magic shop" and has her own photography page...

Hi everyone, I thought it would be great to start this year with a proper introduction of myself by sharing my journey of moving overseas and living abroad. My awesome friend James helped me to make this episode special with his skill of being a photographer and vlogger. Please check him out!!! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoTRF3253ujqVMQqjVqgtmg https://jameselam.com/ https://www.instagram.com/jameselam_nz/ In this episode he is asking me all the questions my guests usually have to...

Hi everyone, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! I was interested in New Years traditions of other people, cultures and countries. So I asked some of YOU to tell me a little bit more about how you celebrate the new year. I sneaked in my own traditions as well but I haven't really been celebrating it in this way since I am in New Zealand. Please enjoy a little collection of New Years traditions! :) A big thank you to everyone who is listening to this show and who has been...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Coral Remiro from Spain. Coral has left Spain to live in London for 8 years where she also met her partner. As she wanted a career change from interior design to a more environmental job, like growing vegetables, they thought Australia and New Zealand would be good places to start this journey.  They spent 1 year in Australia before they entered New Zealand in August 2019. In this episode Coral is talking about her decision of leaving Spain and "moving...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Chandini Kumar from Kerala which is in South India. Cha came to New Zealand in March 2020, just 2.5 weeks before the major lockdown due to the outbreak of Covid19. Cha did her studies in aqua culture at the NMIT (Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology) in Nelson, on the South Island of New Zealand and is now living up on the North Island of the country. In this episode Cha is talking about her memories of going into a countrywide lockdown only a few...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Richard Brown from South Africa. Richard was born and raised in South Africa by British parents before they moved to New Zealand in 1998. He studied law and has a great knowledge about legal topics like immigration, property and estate. Today, we might get an insight of the life of an immigration lawyer of New Zealand. Richi is talking about his journey of becoming a lawyer in a country he wasn't born in and how he ended up helping other immigrants by...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Ana Johann from Brazil. Ana and her husband moved to New Zealand in 2017 and have now two beautiful children which were born and will be raised in Aotearoa, the "land of the long white cloud".  Ana is an aspiring personal stylist who studied fashion design in Brazil and is now helping people all over the world to find their confidence through fashion. Ana is going to tell us more about her experience of coming to New Zealand without being able to speak...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Neena Nandigam. Neena was born in Oman, a country in the Middle East and lived there with her family until she was 8 years old. Her parents are originally from India and made the decision to move to Oman to then make another big move to New Zealand. Neena is living in New Zealand ever since. In this episode Neena is talking about the great country Oman and about her dearest childhood memories. She is telling us all about her experience of growing up in...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Karam Wadia from Iraq. Karam left his country with his parents and his two older siblings in 1998 to move to Jordan. In 2004 the family then decided to move to New Zealand to hopefully mind there new home. Does the Iraq war has something to do with their decision to leave their home country? We will find out in this episode. We are talking about the reasons why his family decided to leave Iraq and how it felt growing up there and spending most of his...

Hi everyone, I am sooooo excited to introduce a special guest in this episode. Please welcome with me Thor Pedersen from Denmark. The man who was the first in visiting every single country in the world without using an airplane. Thor was thinking about an adventure which could last him 4 years but instead ended up being nearly a decade until he would complete his mission. Have you ever thought about writing history? How to be the first in something? How to do something so amazing that the...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Rajni Adhikari from Mumbai, India. Rajni left India in 2019 to study at the Lincoln University near Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand. After finishing her degree she then moved to the North Island of New Zealand where she is living now with her partner. Rajni and I are talking about how difficult it is to maintain friendships when everyone is living in different time zones, how it is important to have a community and to feel a sense of...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Melissa Cox, who moved from the United States of America to New Zealand 10 years ago with her husband, 4 suitcases and 2 guitars. Melissa is a former journalist and non-profit writer who recently published her first book called "So, you want to move to New Zealand". Her book is a great guide for Americans who consider moving to New Zealand, but it is also very interesting for everyone else who wants to move to Aotearoa, or wants to learn something about...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Adam Ang from Malaysia. Adam has been born and raised in Malaysia and decided to study for two years in Australia. After further travel, he then moved to New Zealand with his partner in 2015 and is living here ever since. We are talking about how one person who believes in you and pushes you out of your comfort zone, can help you feel more alive then ever. Also, we will discover how Adam  met his partner in Thailand and why she needed to nurse him back...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Annemarie Ciampaglia, or Annie, from Massachusetts, US. Annie has been growing up in America and decided with 22 years to go on an adventure. She moved to New Zealand by herself and is living here for the past 5 years. We have been working together at Analytica Laboratories, but Annie moved on to a new company while I stayed for another 6 months only to follow her around to be now her colleague again.   In this episode Annie is telling us about her...

Hi everyone, In todays episode I want to talk about the side of living abroad which we usually don't want to talk about. It is an amazing experience and I cherish every second of it but it also has its difficulties and tough times. I talk about the feeling of loneliness... I talk about how you miss out on achievements and milestones of your family and friends... I talk about how you miss out on new "Hello's" and on "Goodbye's"... I talk about missing out on certain food... You will loose...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Ashley Russel. Ashley was born and raised in New Zealand and is a quarter German, a quarter English and half Kiwi. Parts of her family are living in the UK and Ashley has been visiting them through out the years. She has now made the decision to change up her life in New Zealand and to move to the UK for an unknown amount of time. She is also producing music under the name humble daisy  so please go and check her out! We are talking about the feelings you...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me  Anne Aw. Anne was born in Taiwan and has spent most of her childhood there before her family moved to New Zealand when she was around 12 years old. She then spent most of her teenage years and early adulthood in New Zealand and finished off her studies. With 24 years Anne decided to go overseas to London, UK, and is living there ever since which has been 8 years now. We are talking about how it felt to move countries as a child and how hard it was to fit...

Hi everyone, Please welcome with me Cayathri Divakalala from Sri Lanka. Caya is an activist researcher with more than 20 years of experience in the social justice realm working on many different topics. Facing many challenges in her life, as a queer person of color, she has been dedicated to bring social changes. In 2021 she co-founded Adhikaar Aotearoa, a charitable trust working with LGBT+ communities of color. You can follow her work on Instagram (see link below) or on their website (also...