Ask an Expat Roxi Edition: Going to School Overseas
japra | Nov 05, 2009 | Comments 14
Do you wonder what Roxi is looking at? She’s admiring this view in Gent, Belgium.
Julia asked: Maybe Roxi could do an “Ask an Expat” guest post….what do you enjoy about being in school overseas? What do you miss about the US?
Roxi says:
What do I enjoy about being in school overseas?
What do I enjoy the most…that’s a hard question!! There are a lot of things I love about going to school overseas. One of them is being so (relatively) close to the rest of Europe. I think it’s pretty cool that I went to Belgium on a field trip and didn’t even stay the night!
Location aside, I also like going to school with other expat kids. Some of my friends have moved only once, but I’ve met others who have moved over six times. As expats, it’s a part of our lives to learn to be flexible because things change constantly, and it’s very rare that you know for sure where you’re going to be the following year. As a result, I’ve found that we get to be closer friends in a shorter time frame than others do. I guess we just all kind of stick together and try to be there for each other when we need it, since we all know what it’s like to move away from our home country… not to mention that when (aka IF!!) they move back to their home country, it gives me a good excuse to visit them…hello Japan… hey Italy…
What do I miss about the US?
I think I’m going to have to go with the familiarity and convenience of it all. MY GOSH. In England, the stores close so. early. and don’t even think about getting anything done on Sundays. Maybe get the dishes done after three loads in the dishwasher because the thing’s so darn small, or put the wet laundry (one pair of jeans…or was it two?) out on the rack because you have to put a couple pairs of socks through your tiny washer/dryer combo.* And here in Holland…Were you going to tell your friends where you live? Are you going to say your street name correctly? Now spell it.
If I remember correctly, in the States, you could wash that huge pile of laundry PLUS the random bits and pieces from the pigsty I call my room, AND my PE kit..all in less than a day. Less than a day to finish the laundry. All of it. All of the laundry done in less than a day. Oh, what was that? You had a family gathering and you have a counter full of dirty dishes? GUESS WHAT. After you’ve put another load into the washing machine and folded the dry stuff, you can put a good bit of those dishes into your massive dishwasher and get all of them done in one or two loads as well. Not to mention the fact that you can put any leftovers easily into your huge refrigerator. Just think. ALL of your laundry and ALL of your dishes done in a day, and ALL of your random refrigerated food in your refrigerator (plus something mouldy in the back that might have been someone’s science project.)
Don’t even get me started on navigation in England. Those roundabouts…
*OK…so I was exaggerating on the laundry… hahahaha!!
~
It’s me (JaPRA). That was fun! I love shuffling the blog posts over to other people, LOL!! Actually, Roxi had fun answering this question! If you have any questions for me, Roxi, or Mr. DJ (heh heh) please leave them in the comments and we’ll get back to you next week. I think I’ll put up bike photos tomorrow… it’s been raining and I managed to get a few interesting pics yesterday.
Filed Under: Blog • Expat Life • Featured • Parenting
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
Thanks for the great answers! Gee, it sounds like Roxi does a lot of work around there! :)
Roxi, it sounds like you are going to be so well prepared for college life and beyond – it is such a good skill to be able to adapt to new situations – can you imagine if you had stayed in one place and gone to one school K-12th grade?!
Julia, I thought it was funny she wrote about the washing machine and dishwasher too. I guess she must have heard me complain about them too much! She does help out around the house when she doesn’t have a lot of homework (ahem). ;-)
Roxi – I can just imagine how close you must get to your fellow classmates! Very few things bond others more closely than being strangers in a strange land together!
Thanks for guest posting!
So true!
wonderful post from Roxi, thanks so much. We are spoiled by the conveniences of North America but we do contribute more than our fair share to global warming! Travel sounds like a wonderful growth experience, lucky guys.
Christine, we’re so lucky that Roxi loves it here… One might even say she loves it some much that she is quite reluctant to repatriate!
It is nice to get everything done in bigger and faster loads instead of keeping machines running all day or having to drive to the store every day–or walk in inclement weather. However, I also know that Roxi LOVES all of her expat experiences, and I can tell that she would rather have a few inconveniences than miss the overseas life. She already is such a cosmopolitan lass–smart, funny, witty, pretty, and talented. She is making the most of her great life. It’s wonderful to see!
Mimsy, you are so sweet! I did ask Roxi about the second part of her answer and she told me that she had to try hard to think of a negative thing about living overseas. She pretty much quoted me on my gripes! I thought she would say that she misses our family and her friends back home ;-)
We lived in Gent for one whole year! Love that place.
Did you REALLY? It must have been lovely. There was a building for sale near the river and for one minute I thought about what it would be like to live there. I came up with charming and fairy tale like.
What an excellent post! I have the same question for both DJ and Roxi then… what experience or opportunities have you had as an expat that you never would have had otherwise. I don’t mean the normal stuff that you get from travelling to foreign countries, but specifically from being an expat.
I am sorry to say I wasn’t able to pry an answer out of either of them this week, Emm. :-(
I’ll try again next week…
Coolbeans!
Emm, do you know you and my husband are the only people I know who say “coolbeans!”? I like it :-)