All over the world, expatriates come together to socialize and chat about the joys, sorrows, strategies and surprises of living abroad. Until now, all such gatherings I’ve attended have been spontaneous reunions of people who have been “thrown into the same boat,” people who are often colleagues in the same line of work.
Recently, however, I discovered that the far-flung communities of expats have become organized—on a worldwide scale. Yes, it seems that in 2007, a few friends in Germany came up with the idea of making it easy for you to find the local expatriates, no matter where in the world you may end up. They called their organization InterNations.
In Guadalajara, the current contact person for InterNations is Nina Schulte, a German teacher who ended up opening her own language school in Guadalajara. I met her during an InterNations brunch held at Le Bistro restaurant, located near the U.S. Consulate.
Tapatios will be pleased to hear that Schulte picked this city to be her home after backpacking all over Mexico. When I mentioned this to the person sitting across from me, David York, he nodded in agreement. “I too traveled all over Mexico,” he commented, “looking for just the right place to live and at the end I also decided on Guadalajara.” And – would you believe it – I was also told the same story by people on my right: Vanessa and Albert, two New Yorkers who also chose the City of Roses after thoroughly checking out all the alternatives. Now you know why I keep calling Guadalajara “The Magic City.”
While half the people sitting at my table happened to be from the United States, a quick canvas of the other InterNations members attending the brunch revealed that 11 countries were represented that morning at Le Bistro: Belgium, Japan, Germany, England, Wales, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, the United States and, of course, Mexico.Now, for a while I imagined the small group around me represented all the members of InterNations Guadalajara, until Schulte casually remarked that this branch of the organization has a membership of nearly 2,000 people, “but only half of us are active,” she added. A thousand active members? That’s quite a club!
InterNations was founded in 2007 in Munich, Germany by three friends, Malte Zeeck, Christian Leifeld and Philipp von Plato. As far as I can determine, the idea started out as Zeeck’s personal dream. His job as a journalist frequently took him to far-off corners of the world where he often felt like a fish out of water, unable to find things, not understanding local systems, and, especially, not being connected to anyone. He began to dream of an international network that would help people find expats who already knew their way around, who could help a newcomer learn the ins and outs of a new country and a new city. So, Malte Zeeck quit his job and followed his dream and the result is InterNations, which now has nearly one million members in 390 communities around the world.
Not all members of InterNations are foreigners. The organization also welcomes local people, especially local people with a global outlook. In an article in The Copenhagen Voice, author Mucilianu Cristina asked a Dane why she had decided to become a member of InterNations Copenhagen.
“She said that she had traveled outside of Denmark for many years, and upon returning to Denmark she felt that she no longer could relate to the Danish mentality. She felt that most Danes had a narrow minded perspective on anything that was different from the Danish culture and society. Once she connected to InterNations, her world opened up again, and she had access to diverse and kind foreigners within her own country.” What impressed The Copenhagen Voice the most was that this Danish woman had found some of her dearest friends through InterNations.
I can relate to that. After living in Korea and Spain, I was given a job opportunity which I “couldn’t refuse” in Hollywood. After two years, my wife and I were just plain bored with life in the United States, even though we were supposedly located in the “entertainment capital of the world.” It seemed as if the only things on most people’s minds were baseball and football. On top of that, everything in the house worked perfectly ... there was nothing for me to fix! Someone once said, “perfect is boring,” and there’s some truth to that.
We finally packed our bags and moved to France, even though we had no job prospects there whatsoever. Lucky for us, as teachers of Spanish and English, we quickly found work and also lots of expats (language-school lounges are full of them). Yes, many years ago we itinerant teachers were used to reaping the benefits which InterNations now brings to the public at large.
How to join InterNations? Just go to their website, InterNations.org and sign up. Unless you are some kind of baddy, you’ll be invited to join as a basic member. There’s also a premium membership called albatross which costs the equivalent of about 71 pesos a month. However, as Schulte explained to me, as a basic member you are allowed to attend get-togethers and other events, where you will be warmly welcomed. And, she said, you don’t have to be a member of any kind to join in the fun. “Bring your friends along,” she added.