Tell me your story about becoming an IN!

Blessed55

Since I'm new and I love to read other people's stories, can you all share where you live and how you came to living internationally?

I'll be moving to S. Africa in August. I'm a currently a medical student, but have done several humanitarian medical trips to Haiti over the past couple of years and decided I want to pursue a career in global health. Last year I decided I would apply to internships abroad and take a year off of school. Luckily, it's actually working out and I got accepted to be an intern for a large non-profit that has U.S. offices and several offices in Africa. I'll take off for a year and then come back to finish my 4th year of med school.

My H actually has had the opportunity to teach for the past 2 summers in S. Africa and he was offered a permanent teaching job there, so we'll be moving there together. 

Publius

H and I met in Prague. He was there on a 2-3 year secondement from his job in the US and I was studying abroad for my last year of college. We both went back home afterwards. Several months after we got married his old boss from Prague called him and asked if he'd like to come back on a permenant contract. We decided he should take it so we moved. A year and a half into that the crisis hit and his company started serious cost-cutting and certain benefits like Czech lessons that were guarenteed in his contract disappeared. H finally got in touch with one of the recruiters who'd been contacting him. Through the recruiter he got an interview with his current company. He got the job and Geneva became our permenant long term home. We're now in KL with the same company on a few year international assignment.

Smudges*Mom

My DH is in the military and has orders that will take us to Germany in less than two months.

MintChocoChip

I'm a former IN (but an IN for life).  

I lived in Israel with my Israeli XH while we were married.  I am now divorced and living in NJ.

TriDent0

I'll be joining soon too (I've been lurking a bit since I found out).  I'll only be an IN via China for 6 months, but hopefully that's good enough for this board .  My company needs people with a specific skill set for a short period of time, and I volunteered in a heartbeat.  

bluegirl2006

I became an IN by marrying an Aussie. I live in a country town in South Australia.

stever

My English H and I met in San Francisco when I was in college and he was working at a dot-com start-up. The dot-bomb coincided with his H1B Visa being up so I followed him to London. We were there for 3 years before moving to Vancouver, where we were for 4 years. We moved back to California to be near my family when I had DS.

Blessed55

TriDent0:

I'll be joining soon too (I've been lurking a bit since I found out).  I'll only be an IN via China for 6 months, but hopefully that's good enough for this board .  My company needs people with a specific skill set for a short period of time, and I volunteered in a heartbeat.  

That's such a great opportunity! When do you move?

kelly321

I did a year abroad to Germany between high school and college then came back during my junior year of my BA. That's when I met German now-DH. After finishing my BA in the States, I came back on a scholarship, we got married, I did my MA here and am now working on my PhD. He still thinks we may end up in the States long-term, I'm pretty certain we'll stay here because my job prospects are much better here than his there.

PittPurple

DH and I are both Americans. He grew up travelling a lot with his family and I was always jealous of his stories! As soon as we got married and he got his masters, he started applying for jobs in English-speaking cities. We started with Edinburgh, Dublin, London and Sydney just because those were places he found job opportunities. A couple months later, he had a phone interview for his current position and we moved about 6 weeks later. I'd never been anywhere (outside Jamaica and Israel) so it was a lot of adjusting at first. I tempted for a year and then found a good job. We've lived here for 6 years now and are applying for British citizenship this year, it really feels like 'home'.

DH wants to stay over here 'forever' but I am torn on it. I think we'll reevaluate if we have children but for now we're enjoying it here and I'm loving all the travelling!

Potato Pie

I like hearing everyone's stories!

DH and I met when I was in grad school in Wisconsin. He was there doing research for his PhD. He was supposed to go back to Italy a month after we met, but they asked him to come back for another year. After that he got a job in Ottawa, Canada. We did long distance while I worked in Chicago for a year, then I quit my job, moved up to Canada, and stayed there for two years.

DH happened upon a job offer in S.Africa after awhile, and we both liked the idea. So we got married at the courthouse in Ottawa (we were already engaged and planning a bigger wedding that winter). And moved down here in September 2010. 

We became permanent residents last August and now we're both working at the University! 

ukyankee

I was looking for a new job when I got an interview in London.  They sponsored me for a work visa.  I met Londoner DH four months into moving over here and I decided to stick around.  I'm now in year 8 of living in London and working in my job, almost year 5 of being married.  I'm now a citizen and pretty much think I'll be here for the foreseeable future.

welshgirl

I'm American, H is English. We met during the final year of my PhD, just before I was due to go home to finish, in 2003. I stayed, we moved in together, got engaged, etc. I returned to the US to get married, and we were apart for 5 months, and then I've been here as a spouse (vs a student) since April 2006.

traveling turtle

We are both Americans and both wanted to live overseas. My dad was military and I had lived in several countries growing up and H's grandfather lived overseas for 14 years and passed his love it it to my H. H eventually got a job with a company that has lots of international offices and our first place to live is here in Germany. We had an opportunity to move to Denmark, but we decided to stay in Germany instead. We were looking to move to other places (Shanghai or Dubai), but for other reasons I think I want to go back to the states for a few years before doing another international location. We're still here for a few months, so I might change my mind before then. 

azure_azure

It's fun to read all these stories!

My H (then boyfriend) got a job offer in Vietnam, I followed him and got a job once there. After H's contract was up we moved back to Canada for 9 months and then decided to move back to Vietnam. We got jobs once there, 7 years later (with another move back to Canada for family reasons) we had a baby there and decided to move to France (where H grew up). H started a business when we got here and I'm now a SAHM - but looking for work now that M is in kindergarten.

 

Mrs.E.07

Hi and welcome! I'm also a med student :-)

I grew up outside Philadelphia, and met my Swedish DH when he was an exchange student at my high school for a year. We did the long distance thing while I finished high school and went to college. When I graduated, he was working on his masters in Sweden, so I moved over. I learned Swedish, and then figured I'd apply to med school here (it's free here!), thinking I'd never get in. But somehow I did, and so I'm still here for now. There's a good chance we'll go back to the US for me to do my residency, and then we'll reevaluate.

sushisamba

DH and I moved to London about 3 years ago.  We were living in New York at the time and he was offered a new job in London.  We were about to be married, and thought this was a perfect time in our lives to make a [temporary] move abroad.  I was luckily able to transfer within my company, so everything was actually pretty smooth for us.

 

expatjen

I met my DH while we were both living & working in San Francisco in 2002.  He moved back to India in 2004 to take over his family-run business and we did the long-distance thing for 2 years.  

In 2006 we got married (once in India and once in my hometown of Hawaii) and I moved to India permanently.  We had our son in 2010 and I'm happy with our life here (even though I b!tch and moan about it a lot)  

wise_rita

TL;DR version: study abroad

Expanded version: Spring semester of my junior year of undergrad I studied abroad in Norway.  DBF was attending the same school and it was a small place, so everyone knew everyone.  We became friends.

That program is meant for Norwegians to spend 1 year of college in Norway and finish their last 3 at a US university.  So after DBF's obligatory 1 year at the Norwegian school he chose my university to attend in the US (not because of me, but because of a prior relationship between the schools making it cheap/easy/logical).

We didn't get together for another few months, but by that time we had been friends for 11 months so I didn't feel like a gigantic hoar for shacking up with him almost immediately.  

We've been shacking up ever since. 

ETA: After we both finished undergrad we moved to his homeland of Norway for 3 years.  Then spent 1 year doing grad school in Scotland.  After grad school we'll spend about 6 months back in Norway (where we are right now, towards the end) before DBF transfers with his company to Australia where we continue our INventures.

myblueangel19

Hi and welcome!

My French H and I met while we were both on a one year exchange in Glasgow. We did 7 months in Glasgow as a couple, I moved to Brussels for 3 months that summer and we saw each other every weekend. After that, I went to the US to finish my undergrad degree and he finished his Masters in France, long distance for two years. We got married in France in  July 2010 and I went back to TX to file the visa paperwork. Moved to France in September 2010. We are here for the foreseeable future and really loving our life in Paris.

oneslybookworm

Love all these stories!

DH works for a company with several international locations.  In 2007, we did a short stint in Japan (DH was there for 3-4 months, I was only there 1.5 as I was still in law school and could only go during summer break).  After Japan, I fell in love with living abroad.  DH had already had the desire to work internationally listed on his work plan, so it was really a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. 

A few weeks before our wedding, DH got a call saying they needed him in the Netherlands immediately after our honeymoon, for a few months (literally...2 days after getting back from our honeymoon).  We agreed, and after the HM we moved to the NL for what turned out to be 3 months (had to go back because of my law classes).

After that, we lived in the States for a year and a half, then moved back to the NL for a three year assignment, which is where we are now.

aMrsin09

My Aussie DH was a Chief Engineer on the Mega Yachts in the Med and I (for a hobby) delivered a racing yacht to wherever she needed to be for a race.  H sailed from France to St Maarten and I sailed from DC.  We landed on the island within 5 hours of each and the marina docked our boats next to each other.  The crews hung out (read that as got drunk as all) and I left 24 hrs later.  Fast forward 4 months and I went back to the islands to sail the boat home to DC.  H was still with the same yacht on the same island.  He got up the nerve to ask me out.  I was still scheduled to leave in 24 hrs.  Thankfully the weather didn't think I should.  The winds in the bay were about 10 knots and the wind on the other side was in the 30s.  So we had four days together. 

He went back to France and I went back to DC.  We were LDR for two years before we got married.  The two years consisted of me going to visit him ,him coming to visit me, etc.  I got to see the Pyramids and he got to see ...Vegas

After we got married I joined him in France for six months while he finished out his contract.  We are currently in Australia.

NLfoodie

Short version: No exciting story here. Half Dutch/half American, born and raised in NL, DH is half Italian, half Dutch and was born and raised in NL too.

Longer more illogical story:

My grandpa divorced my grandma when my dad was a little kid to move to the US with his girlfriend. They both became American citizens and had 2 more children, who are my half uncles, who have a whole bunch of kids who make up for a large part of my family. My mom and dad divorced when I was a little kid, a couple years later dad met my stepmom who's American and when I was in my early teens my dad moved to the US. My stepmom's family is pretty damn huge too, and I do consider them my family (more so than my biological Dutch family), so by now my American family is larger than my Dutch family. Through my dad and stepmom I applied for a green card immediately after high school. Through some INS fluke, they couldn't process it in time, so suddenly I was waitlisted as I was over 18 (yep, that letter came 2 days after my 18th birthday, assholes!) We figured I could probably move after college and do college in NL, since that's way cheaper anyway. College came and went and still no green card.

My greencard finally came through around the same time I re-met DH. I did accept the green card, which gave me 2 years to move to the US with a possible 1 year extension due to the economy. After that I would've had to have moved completely. About a year and a half after I finally received the green card (about 11 years after applying) I turned it back in as DH and I bought a house in NL as we decided we did want to stay here.

All in all, with the amount of family I have in the US, the amount of time I've spent there (learned to drive there, internships, all my vacations, worked there etcetera) I've decided I'm an honorary half American. With all the bureaucratic nonsense I went through with the US government, I friggin deserve that title!

DH's story is simple and lovely. FIL and MIL both went on a mediterranean cruise in the summer of 1964. He came from NL and went on the cruise with his sister, she came from Milan and went on the cruise with her parents. Something was wrong/weird with FIL's tickets, and a nice gentleman helped him figure it out. He invited FIL and his sister to spend the evening with them on board. FIL then met the nice gentleman's daughter, they danced, they talked (in French, which they both spoke). In October of '65 they got married in Milan. FIL had to get back to NL as he was a teacher, but would come back for Christmas and at the end of Christmas break they'd move MIL to NL. When they got on the train to move, MIL already had morning sickness (that's what FIL always tells us). In September of 66 SIL was born. 

bail229

Growing up we had family friends who came to NY for a few years due to the fathers work. We kept in touch for many years and after graduating college my sister and I came on a holiday to Australia to visit them. I really loved it here and would come back in the summers to visit. I got tired of dealing with all the politics of teaching in NYC so I decided to apply for a visa and come and teach in Oz for a while. I came for another holiday while waiting for my visa to be approved and met my future DH. I didn't think I was going to ever speak to him again because I was still going back to NY but we ended up keeping in touch for the year I before I moved. My visa finally came through and I moved to Oz in July 2007. We got married in oct 2009 and I am now a dual citizen and we are expecting our first!

Mrs SC

Loving all the stories!

DH (bf at the time) and I were both living/working in Los Angeles. My company decided to shut down the L.A. office and I was offered a position in the NY office, the London office or a package. Choosing the London office was a no brainer. The very first time I met DH he told me he intended to live abroad, so he was pleasantly surprised when I told him about the offer. We did LDR for a year before his company finally transferred him out here as well. We were married 5 months after that. Loving London and no intentions of going back to the states anytime soon.

glitterfart

I came to Germany in HS, then for my junior year in college, and then after I graduated from college I moved here to do an internship with the government, started work on a Masters (never finished) and never left. I met my DH in an English class I was teaching and the rest is history. We?ve been married for 6 years now.

neeps

H and I were your typical living in sin American DINKs. Then we got married and literally 4 days after our wedding he was offered a job in Scotland. We sold our house, cars, packed up the cat and moved. A year later we were transferred to Russia. We were there 4 years, with one domestic move (which was farther than moving from the US to Scotland). Transferred back to the US for a year and now we're in London. If you're keeping up, that's 5 moves in almost 7 years. It's a transient lifestyle, but we like the adventure of it. We don't really have any plans to live in the US on a permanent basis for the foreseeable future. 

sucredee

I am a reverse IN....I am Dutch and came to the US at 17 to do a year of college. I lived with the host family from h*ll ( I thought it would make for a better experience to live with a host family) and moved to the dorms after one semester.  I played on the tennis team and they offered me a scholarship to come back the following year.  My parents (my mom will regret this decision for the rest of her life) let me come back a year and during that year I became pretty serious with my now XH so I wanted to stay and see how things went.  I knew my parents (read mom) would flip so I made sure everything was legal, including working on campus so I could suport myself.  My parents disowned me so I was on my own.  Got married after 4 years to XH and divorced 8 years later and of course my mom (who started speaking to me again in 2000) figured I would be coming back home....NOT!  I was too americanized and had done all my growing up here and got my degree (I am a PA) here.  Met my DH during one of my rotations and we have been together for 10 years now ( and married almost 6). 

I am pretty sure I will never move back to NL.  I wouldn't mind a move somewhere else but that will never happen so we just travel a lot instead. If we ever win the lottery I wouldn't mind getting a house in Provence.... I do have both US and Dutch Citizenship and so does my DD (she just got her Dutch passport)

chelbel7

Three months after we were married DH came home and asked me how I felt about him applying for a job in London. Two days previously I had been saying how I would love to move abroad for a short amount of time, funny how faced when the reality of this I didn't actually want to do it. One month later DH was offered the job and we agreed it was a good move for his career.  He moved one month after that and I followed 5 months later. I've been here 17months now. I started off supply teaching, then got a full time position, and am now on maternity leave. 

VABeach08

Cliff notes:  We're Americans temporarily living in IT for work.

Longer version:  I met H right after he moved to DC after living/working in London for 5yrs.  H hated DC (he was lonely and always complained that DC didn't measure up to London); I loved DC.  Being so compatible, obviously we got married 8yrs later .   About 5mos after we got married, H got a job offer in IT.

He always spoke so fondly of his time in the UK, I said I was game and here we sit .

GL w/ your move!  I've never been to S.Africa, but would love to visit Capetown someday!

dpdw

DH & I are Americans living in Hong Kong with our 2 kids.  DH has dual citizenship with a European country and has had a rather international work history on his own.  For the past 10 years we talked of moving abroad together & raising our kids with a global experience.  18 months ago his company offered us the opportunity - and here we are.