Professional Foreigner: Seven Years as an International Nomad

Cafe in Glasgow, Scotland: (photo by Roxanne Patruznick)

I’ve lived as a nomad, mostly in Europe, for over seven years. I left the US in 2017 and have travelled from Valencia to Zagreb to Glasgow to Budapest. From Porto to Tangier to Tirana to Tbilisi. And on and on. 

One of the challenges of living in so many places is that I don’t have enough time to get fluent in any other languages. I make the effort to learn the basics: hello, thank you, yes, no, etc. Just knowing the basics goes a long way. At the very least, I’ve gotten smiles from people in Eastern European countries not known for their outward friendliness. The fact that I can order a coffee and ask someone how they are usually gets me some form of appreciation.

Currently, my husband and I have been living in Tbilisi, Georgia for four months. As Americans, we are allowed to stay in the country for up to a year on a tourist visa. It’s currently winter, just before the holidays and we plan to stay until the end of February, a total of six months. Talk about slowing our travel down. In the few months of living in Tbilisi we’ve made friends with several Georgians (and even got to throw a rare dinner party.) A few locals have asked us if we live here now. I joked with some of them that after so many years as nomads that my husband and I are now professional foreigners. Unpaid professionals, of course.

Park in Bucharest, Romania: (photo by Roxanne Patruznick)

I never thought I would one day become a foreigner. I grew up in Los Angeles exposed to many different cultures, races, and ethnicities. I’ve always loved connecting with people who are different than me. It’s an opportunity to learn something new and see the world from a bigger perspective. I couldn’t imagine a world without all the amazing immigrant food, music and culture. I remember in high school how everyone would flock around the foreign exchange students. They were the mysterious people from another part of the world. And now, that’s what my husband and I are: adult exchange students. Professional foreigners.

The words “foreigner” and “outsider” can have negative connotations. However, another way to look at foreigners and outsiders is to highlight what they bring to a place. It’s an opportunity to create connection, for both parties to learn and understand different cultures. Before you know it, that mysterious foreigner transforms from an outsider to a friend. At the same time, it’s important to be respectful of where you go and learn as much as you can about a place and its people. I would also suggest checking out places that aren’t the typical vacation spots. There are many cities that are third, fourth, and fifth largest as well as small villages that want more visitors to bolster their economy.

Even if I stay in a place for a very long time, I’ll always be an American foreigner. But just as I was curious about people from other countries when I lived in the U.S., people in Europe are interested in me and even about the United States. People love learning that I’m from California and that I grew up in Los Angeles. The West Coast is an exotic curiosity to many of my European friends (although every European seems to have a relative in Orange County), just as Europe is for many people in the U.S.

Now I fully lean into being foreign and being different from many of the people I meet. I love how other people are different than me. It’s an opportunity for me to learn. And what I also learn, over and over again, is that people are not that different from each other.

One thing I’ve noticed about forming friendships with people in different countries is that the people I become closest to have usually spent time traveling. It’s as though we understand something about one another in a deeper, unspoken way. One of my Croatian friends who lived abroad in England for many years and eventually returned to Croatia told me she felt like a foreigner in her own country when she returned. This is exactly how I felt when I returned to the U.S. “You can’t go home again” is so true. When I left my home and then returned, my home had changed and so had I. I’ve had to redefine what home is as well as what family is (My husband wrote a piece about this -- link).

Museum exhibit in Valencia, Spain: (Photo by Roxanne Patruznick)

My husband and I are outsiders. At the same time, we’re not. We now have communities in several cities in Europe. When we return to Valencia or Split or Budapest or Glasgow, we feel a sense of home and connection with our friends there. Being an outsider, embracing being a foreigner feels like a gift as we dance through the richness of life. We are not merely experiencing but are actively participating, contributing and connecting deeply with life.

Written by Roxanne Patruznick