CJ and Amanda shares their personal experiences and best tips for building your community abroad.

Here’s the main takeaways:

1. Put yourself out there — community starts with brave first steps

Both hosts emphasize that building a village doesn’t happen passively. You need to take initiative:

* Say yes to “blind-date” coffees

* Join meetups (e.g., InterNations, “new to Frankfurt” events)

* Attend language classes or pregnancy/parent groups

* Accept invitations even when it feels awkward

Almost every friendship they formed began with taking a small social risk.

2. Shared experiences create the strongest connections

The transcript shows that community abroad often forms fastest around common life phases or needs, such as:

* Being new to the country

* Learning the language

* Having pets

* Pregnancy classes or young-kids groups

* Being an international living far from home

These “we’re all in the same boat” situations naturally bring people together and make it easier to bond deeply.

3. Build both international support and local integration

A balanced community abroad includes:

* International friends who offer emotional familiarity, understand holidays, and “adopt” you like family

* Local connections that help you integrate, navigate bureaucracy, learn the language, and support your kids in school

Even though connecting with locals can be harder (language barriers, established circles), both hosts agree that learning the local language and making some local ties helps you feel truly rooted.

Amanda and CJ checks in, with a surprise recording from thanksgiving morning, where they talk about the different holiday traditions and why they find it important to keep them going, while living abroad. They also share what they are grateful for, and invite all their listeners to do the same.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

In this episode of Expecting Expats, CJ and Amanda share their weekend experiences, discuss the complexities of family life, and delve into their breastfeeding journeys. They explore the emotional and physical challenges of breastfeeding, the societal pressures surrounding it, and the importance of support systems for new mothers. The conversation also touches on cultural differences in breastfeeding practices and the resources available in Germany to assist mothers in their breastfeeding journeys.

Resources:

Le Leche League

The Womanly art of breastfeeding

Your baby’s microbiome

Podcast recommendations:

Therapy Talk (Johanne Svensson)

The Longest Shortest Time podcast (by Hilary Frank)

In this episode of Expecting Expats, Amanda and CJ welcomes back Kari to share her recent birth story of baby number 3! Kari discusses her experience giving birth to her third child, Solveig, where she barely made it to the hospital, and didn’t have time to get any pain medication.

The conversation touches on the logistics of managing multiple children, answering work emails while having contractions, and the emotional aspects of childbirth, and the importance of advocating for oneself.

CJ and Amanda share the funny, shocking and emotional cultural surprises during their pregnancies in Germany.

Podcast recommendations: The Positive Birth Story Podcast

In this episode, CJ and Amanda get personal—sharing the winding paths that brought them to Germany and the unexpected turns that shaped their lives as expat parents.

In this special episode, CJ and Amanda sit down with Kari, the original co-host of Expecting Expats, to reflect on her journey and share the reasons behind her decision to step away from the podcast.

After a long pause, we’re thrilled to relaunch the podcast with fresh energy, deeper conversations, and a brand-new co-host. In this heartfelt episode, CJ returns to the mic to reflect on life’s big transitions—from growing families to shifting careers—and introduces Amanda, a doula and fellow expat parent, who brings her own rich perspective to the show.