| p>Some people have trouble adapting to any new | | | | never gone away. I still almost become |
| experience. Others aren't happy unless they | | | | teary-eyed when I hear that type of Mexican |
| are living on the edge. For those thinking of | | | | music. Some of my happiest moments are |
| taking the plunge and moving abroad, your | | | | when I am in a totally alien environment. |
| reaction to new experiences might be a good | | | | I daily meet people who tell me they could never |
| indicator of your chances of successfully making | | | | live outside the United States. They could be |
| the move. | | | | right. Persons who have spent their entire life |
| As a youth growing up in the provincialism (no | | | | fearing the unknown, happy to live in the same |
| negative connotation intended) of North | | | | town, working in the same job, and never |
| Georgia, my experiences were not exactly | | | | traveling out of a three state area might have |
| international. My foreign experiences were largely | | | | trouble adapting to expatriate living. There is |
| from National Geographic articles. That magazine | | | | nothing wrong with being this way, but it could be |
| fascinated me and the seed of foreign adventure | | | | a good indicator that you would have difficulty |
| was sown. In fact, until I was in my late teens, | | | | adapting to life in a country with a new language, |
| my only contact with "foreigners" was a Mexican | | | | uncertain routine, and a cultural tradition totally |
| photographer who came through town once a | | | | different from your own. |
| year. I still have a picture of me and two of my | | | | For most people however, adaptation to living |
| brothers seated on top of his donkey, his only | | | | abroad as an expatriate is not only possible, but a |
| photographic prop. | | | | challenging experience. If you live your life |
| The high school French teacher tried to get me to | | | | looking for physical, intellectual, or economic |
| take French. I took typing instead! | | | | challenges, you would probably enjoy the |
| I did get interested in Spanish and started | | | | acclimatization process as you adapt to a new |
| studying the language on my own with language | | | | culture. You, like others before you, would |
| record sets. I was hooked. Within two years, I | | | | probably experience the same initial cultural |
| had started college, begun formally studying | | | | frustrations, and have to work your way through |
| Spanish, and spent my first college summer living | | | | the cultural shock process. But even that is |
| with friends in Mexico. | | | | exciting. |
| That summer should have been out of my | | | | If you are reading this because you have an |
| comfort zone, but that first night in a Mexican | | | | interest in possibly living abroad, you probably |
| border town, seated at a table in an outdoor | | | | have what it takes to do so. Take the plunge |
| restaurant in front of the bullring listening to | | | | by taking short trips abroad to your countries of |
| Mariachi music stirred up a curiosity that has | | | | interest. |
