#migrantlife — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #migrantlife, aggregated by home.social.
-
My last day at the MPIC yesterday 💚
My wonderful friends and colleagues pulled out all stops to make me not want to leave Germany, with a VERY devious surprise party! I did not have even an inkling, so much so that i had brought goodbye cake for lunch, making the whole day about me 😅 They also made me a custom cycling jersey with all their names printed 😍, a freundbuche with photos and memories, and a painting of the Dom upon which everyone drew themselves as a tiny stick figure.
I don't know what I did to deserve such good friends. It has really been the best part of this 2 years in Germany, and I'm going to miss everyone very much 💚
-
My favourite Australian character trait is the willingness to jump in on a lie in order to trick someone (in good fun).
This is best shown by dropbears*, where any Aussie will happily join in on sharing how terrifying they are, how weird it is that no one outside Aus knows about them, the importance of eating vegemite as a deterrent, etc.
I love that my MPIC friends have gotten fully on board with this, happily rabbiting on about dropbears and their risks. It warms my heart and makes me feel like home!
* this is not to imply that dropbears are not real. Of course they are.
-
I appreciate my friends' enthusiasm and curiosity about Australia, even when they are totally wrong 😂 Example from last night, a friend was admiring my coin pouch - it's printed with a tassie devil painting by Jon Kudelka.
Me, explaining that it's a tassie devil.
Them: oh! I saw one of them!
Me, skeptical: I didnt know you went to Tasmania?
Them: I didn't. Ohhh no, I'm thinking of the big carnivorous mammal...
Me, confused: a quoll?
Them: a wombat!!+100 points for enthusiasm, -100 points for factual accuracy 😂
-
What living abroad for two decades has taught me is the limits of effort.
You can speak the language flawlessly, figure out the system, follow every rule, live by local customs, even hold the nationality of your chosen country; it still won’t change the fact that you will be treated as the outsider.
The whole integration tale is basically the migrant version of meritocracy. You’re told that if you work hard enough, you’ll belong, but the goalposts were never designed to move.
-
People say living abroad builds character and resilience. What they don’t mention is the emotional fatigue that builds from constantly trying to adapt and make sense of the world around you. Everything around you seems to move without friction while you float slightly above it, never fully syncing. Some days it’s funny; other days it feels like carrying an anchor that still doesn’t ground you.
-
Week 10 in Japan and I'm hitting the phase where the alienation sneaks up on me. I observe and replicate the rhythms of daily life, yet the glances and interactions remind me I'm the visible outsider. Displacement here sits heavier than expected.
-
New paper co-authored by CPC-CG's Professor Hill Kulu, Dr Júlia Mikolai and Dr Mary Abed Al Ahad from the #MigrantLife project at the University of St Andrews.
Investigates #residential #mobility and #housing changes among #immigrants and their #descendants in five #European countries (#UnitedKingdom, #France, #Germany, #Switzerland, and #Sweden) with different #housingmarkets and #migrant #populations: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-025-09757-3
-
📗 New #MigrantLife paper by CPC-CG Co-Director Hill Kulu from the University of St Andrews
Uses #machinelearning to identify the most important predictors of #migrant #fertility and #parity progression in #France
-
📌 New opportunity to work on the MigrantLife and CPC-CG projects at the University of St Andrews
#Postdoctoral #ResearchFellow to work on #family and #housing projections using #microsimulation
Apply by 1 October: https://www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/5839/0/456726/889/research-fellow-or-research-assistant-ar2690
#demography #socialsciences #migration #geography #partnership #childbearing #homeownership #jobs #vacancies #researchjob #researchassistant #migrantlife #standrews #forecasting
-
Today is my one-year anniversary of moving to Deutschland! It's been an interesting year, with some good and some bad, but that is true of every year.
I've found Mainz to be exceptionally welcoming. I love living in the Neustadt, I love living in a walkable, bikeable, dense city. I've made nice friends at work, and have great housemates. Evenings on the Rheinufer are delightful.
I do miss home on a really deep level. I've always felt really attached to Australia's nature (thanks to being raised essentially outside in one of the most beautiful parts of the world) and being away from it has been way harder than I thought it would be.
Anyway, who knows what the next year will bring! Hopefully good things :)
-
Recent lunch discussions highlighted a European-Australian english divide. The German and English english speakers assert that when 'the' is followed by a word beginning with a vowel', 'the' is pronounced 'thee.' Thee orange. The Australians (n=2) vehemently disagree.
Apparently a firm enough rule that the Germans were taught it in school. Wild!
-
🚩Job vacancy 🏘️ #Postdoctoral #ResearchFellow to work on #family and #housing #projections using #microsimulation as part of the #ERCfunded #MigrantLife project and the #ESRCfunded Centre for #Population Change & Connecting #Generations - based at the University of #StAndrews School of #Geography & #SustainableDevelopment.
Closing: 8 July 2025
#migration #demography #socialscience #housingprojections #phd #jobs #jobvacancy #phdjob
-
Important info from the Aussie embassy in Germany re #AusVotes. In person voting happening in both Frankfurt and Berlin, #DemocracySausage in Berlin only.
-
Daffodils!! My friend asked me as I took this picture, "don't you have daffodils in Australia?". I said best probably just to assume that nothing growing natively here also grows natively in Aus 😅
Spring is COMING!
-
In the latest blow to my Australian-ness, I was recently asked if I was American... by an American.
Ummmm excuse me? I've never pronounced an R in my entire life, and you have the gall to ask if I'm a yank?!
-
Life has been kicking my but recently. What I assume is some seasonal affective disorder combined with standard ECR anxiety has resulted in fairly severe homesickness. Leaning into it today with some gum leaf art and all the classic Aussie rock I can find on Spotify. This too will pass.
-
It's really weird living in a country where the far right is on the rise, but having absolutely no political agency. I didn't foresee that this would be the part of #MigrantLife that would bother me the most.
-
I keep trying to tell my new German friends that Australia is very safe, and the dangerous animals aren't a worry, but since I've been here a friend's mum got bitten by a shark (they're fine), and my mum just sent me this photo of an Eastern Brown snake attending sewing class (bravo to them for trying, hard to sew without hands).
-
Small #MigrantLife win! Navigated buying loratadine at the Appotheke all in Deutsch!!
The constant duck out of water feeling has not faded, but it's a nice confidence booster 😊
-
‼️ 🚨 Call for papers 🚨 ‼️
The 3rd #MigrantLife #symposium is happening 25-26 June 2025 in St Andrews. Submit on #migration, #fertility, #family, #employment, #education, #housing, #ageing, #mortality, #health, #longitudinal studies, and #lifecourse analysis.
Please submit using the form below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBDaamPUXDu9y6RsknVc31CPC5NFqiHlAr4Zn2I1vjP5vu6A/viewform
-
Huh. After a pretty decent amount of snow over the last month, it has been raining for a few days. Enough that we might get a green xmas again. Maybe it'll be enough to convince the olds to take climate change seriously.
It could turn cold again, of course. There's time. I still miss searing hot xmases. 😅