International Lifestyle: Moving Abroad in Your 20's

Ever wondered about what your life would be like abroad? Not satisfied with your job or your current lifestyle? Ever think that there must be something more to life than getting an internship, 9-5 job and a mortgage, adventures to be had, foreign lands to visit? Worried about wasting your 20’s building a career that you don’t love? Well if you answered yes to any of these questions then this is the book to help you change your life.

International Lifestyle is a book about 13 people who took the leap to move abroad, left their comfort zones and completely redesigned their lives. From the highs and lows of life abroad the 13 authors share their life stories about why they moved abroad and why it is so important to do so in your 20’s.

The contributors leave home for Argentina, Thailand, Tanzania, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Mauritius, Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia and even Bangladesh. Their stories tell you what it was like for them to move to a new country, expectations, realities and those crazy experiences you just wouldn’t get back home. Some have left forever, others for a year or two, but all have found something more, something they were searching for that they couldn’t find at home.

International Lifestyle also includes a chapter called Making it Happen for those of you who are waiting for the right moment, enough money, the perfect job, for those who are scared of leaving the comforts and familiarity of home and need some advice to get started. If you want to move, we want to help you.

After reading International Lifestyle you won’t be able to stay at home. But that’s okay, you are young -go explore the world!

Compiled by Laura Gibbs and Jason Berkeley

Excerpts
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December 2014 started with a break up and ended with a death.
Part Time Lover, Full Time Friend
At some point a few years ago, I realised that life just wasn’t as good as it could be. I lived in a city that I didn’t like, a country I wasn’t sure if I liked and had a job that I definitely didn’t like. There was only one thing I was sure of and that was Martin. So with his support, I quit my teaching job - because I hated the education system, how much I worked and how much my friends worked. This was not life. I became a vegetarian chef and finally Mondays became something I didn’t dread. However, my mood in autumn and winter was still always low. I was also low on Vitamin D and I had developed a strange nervous energy which made it almost impossible to relax. I worked or exercised to distract myself until I was exhausted, just so I could sleep. The air around me seemed stifling. The dark British skies made the air heavy and every time I would lie down, I could feel it weighing on my chest. I needed to change more of my life. The problem was that Martin loved his job, his friends and his hobbies. He liked it here in this city and he wanted to settle, buy a house and develop his career. I started to wonder if he would mind if I left. Would he even notice if I was gone?
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Hardly a day went by when the word “Shantaram” wasn’t uttered under my breath:

Bangladeshi cultural norms have it that I am unable to wear a skirt or a tank top without being seen as a whore and that when living in most areas outside of Dhaka, I am expected to conform to the country’s traditional attire for women: Shantaram.

I am unable to go for runs in the street because it is culturally inappropriate for women to do so: Shantaram.

I sit in on meetings with new business associates who refuse to look me in the eye and only choose to address my male counterpart: Shantaram.

I get into a car accident and have bricks thrown at me because this country believes in vigilante justice as a means of compensating for their poor legal system: Shantaram.

I am stared at with every step I take, everywhere I go, because I am a foreigner and because staring is not considered impolite in Bangladesh: Shantaram.