How to Move Abroad: Your Guide to Start Living Abroad

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Podcast by Mistelle Godlewski - Move Abroad Expert

How to Move Abroad: Your Guide to Start Living Abroad

Welcome to How to Move Abroad (because Google is not a plan) — the podcast for Americans who are done “considering it” and ready to actually make the move happen. I’m Mistelle. I’ve moved abroad three times, I don’t have a magic second passport, and I’m not here to sell you a fantasy life on a cobblestone street. We’re talking the stuff that actually decides whether you can move: visas, budgets, timelines, jobs, kids, healthcare, paperwork, and the emotional chaos that shows up the second you try to do this with a partner (or a bank account that’s already tired). If you’ve been doom-googling, panic-saving Reels, and ending every research session with “well… that was horrifying,” you’re in the right place. Because moving abroad isn’t a vibe. It’s a project. And I’m here to help you build a plan that works in your real life.
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Latest episodes

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14 September 2026

I Had to Interview for My Own Job When I Transferred Countries. Here's Why

When I transferred my job from Vienna to Zurich within the same company, I still had to apply for it. And interview for it. Because Switzerland considered it a new position — and before my company could give it to me, they had to prove to Swiss authorities that no local candidate could do what I do.

For my own job. That I was already doing.

This week I'm talking about the legal reality of international hiring that almost nobody explains clearly — why employers in most European countries are required to demonstrate they couldn't find a local candidate before they can hire you, what that process actually looks like, and why this is the real reason you keep getting passed over and it has nothing to do with your qualifications.

Also: what actually works when the playing field isn't level.

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14:46

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07 September 2026

Same Word. Completely Different Game. What Nobody Tells You About Job Hunting Abroad.

When you hear the word football you think Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. The rest of the world hears it and thinks Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Same word. Completely different game.

And this is the most accurate description of what is happening in your international job search right now.

You have been doing everything right — the resume, the cover letter, the applications, the follow ups. That's football. That's the game you know. But the moment you decided to land a job abroad you walked onto a FOOTBALL pitch in full pads and a helmet and wondered why everyone was looking at you like that.

This week I'm talking about why the American job search playbook fails internationally — what's actually happening on the other side of your application, why the portal was never the point, and what showing up in the wrong uniform is costing you before anyone has even read your resume.

This is not a talent problem. It's a translation problem.

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11:53

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31 August 2026

You've Applied to Hundreds of Jobs Abroad and Heard Nothing. Here's Why

You've applied to a lot of jobs. Maybe hundreds. And you keep hearing nothing, or you get to the final round and they hire the local candidate, and you're starting to wonder what's wrong with you.

Nothing is wrong with you. Your experience is not the problem.

Your strategy is the problem. And that is actually the best possible news because strategy can be fixed.

This week I'm starting a new arc focused entirely on landing a job abroad — and we're starting with mindset because none of the tactical stuff works if the foundational beliefs are wrong. Why the job search strategy that works at home is actively working against you abroad. What is actually happening on the other end of your application. And the one frame shift that changes everything about how you approach this.

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19:31

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24 August 2026

Just because you CAN get by in English doesn't mean you should...

When I moved to Switzerland I didn't speak German. And I was fine. I worked for a global company, English was the working language, I could do my job completely competently without it.

And then I moved to Vienna. And I had a direct report who didn't feel comfortable speaking English. And suddenly I had to manage someone... in German. And that changed everything about how I learned.

This week I'm talking about the language barrier and your career abroad. The three levels of language need and which one applies to you. Why Foreign Fridays at the office moved the needle in a way Duolingo never did. And why getting by in English is not the same as being able to actually grow in a country where the real conversations happen in another language.

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17:03

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17 August 2026

The Dragon, the Lake, the Maze: What Harry Potter Gets Right About Moving Abroad

My daughter and I are reading Harry Potter right now. Goblet of Fire specifically. And somewhere between the dragon and the lake and the maze I realized ... this is exactly what moving abroad feels like.

Quick note upfront: JK Rowling has said and done things I don't agree with and won't pretend otherwise. The story belongs to the readers now. So we're talking about the story.

This week I'm mapping the Triwizard Tournament onto the move abroad process.

The dragon: the obstacle you didn't fully see coming that you have to get through with what you have.

The lake: going somewhere cold and dark and full of things trying to stop you to get back to something that matters.

The maze: the middle phase where the path keeps changing and nothing is where you expected it to be.

And the cup. And the portkey. And why what's on the other side of it is the beginning of the best part of your story

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14:38

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11 August 2026

Moving Abroad Is a 10K. Here's What the Training Actually Looks Like

Nobody goes from the couch to running 10 kilometers without training. It doesn't matter how motivated you are, how badly you want it, or how expensive your shoes are. The distance requires training. The training takes time. And the time is not optional.

Moving abroad is exactly the same.

This week I'm using running — actual running, the specific experience of sitting in the driveway wondering if you just go, the first kilometer feeling great, kilometer two where you want to die — to talk about what the move abroad process actually looks like from the inside. Why you're not behind. Why the messy middle is supposed to feel like this. And why the days you don't want to train are the most important days to show up anyway.

Also: the fueling piece. Because you cannot run a 10K on no sleep and pure adrenaline and neither can you plan a move abroad that way.

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17:32