James Doran (00:06.862)

Welcome to the ExpertPod. My name is James. I'm your host. I'm a Brit living in Sweden, as you probably already know. And I'm here today with my lovely guest, Evangeline Duncan or Evie. And Evie's actually my girlfriend. So I don't know if you want to introduce yourself to the world or to the five listeners. And it's a bit... Hi. A bit about yourself. Yeah. Okay. Hello. Thank you, James. Yes. My name's Evie and I'm an actress.

living in England and currently spending quite a lot of time in Sweden visiting my lovely boyfriend James. So if you're not watching and you're just listening, he just looked behind his shoulder. And before I set up living in London, I went and lived in France for three months when I was doing a preliminary acting course in preparation for going to drama school. So that was my experience of living abroad.

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James Doran (01:12.078)

Welcome to section one of the podcast, we're not getting there. So this is where we kind of ask the guest a bit about how they managed to live abroad or experience life in the country. So Evie, I know you lived in France for a little bit of time and spent a lot of time here in Sweden. So just tell me a bit about how you got to this location. I guess the main difference between the two places is the fact that one was pre -Brexit and one was post -Brexit. So...

Getting to France, I was there for a 12 week course, or 11 weeks, so it came under a three month time span. And pre -Brexit, obviously we were able to go into any country in Europe and spend... Three months without a visa Yeah, exactly. And spend up to three months there without needing any kind of visa, any reason to be there. And obviously I wasn't working because I was doing a, I was on the phone, for a student reason, to studying exactly.

So to get to France, my parents actually drove me over to France and so we packed up the car with a lot of my stuff and took the Eurotunnel and we spent a couple of days traveling all together looking at a few different places along the way to get to Fontainebleau which is where the course was that I was doing with Fontainebleau School of Acting or FONACT and they're about 40 minutes outside of Paris.

How did you get to Foncibleur School? like, what was the reason for going? So the reason I went to the school was because I spent summer after graduating from university in 2015. I had this summer before deciding what I was going to do for the rest of my life. And I had studied psychology, but I really knew that I still wanted to give acting a shot. And so I kind of thought to myself this month.

these summer months are maybe an opportunity to see if that's still a bug worth discovering. And so I did the three week acting course at Guildhall and lo and behold, still loved doing acting and still thought I do want to pursue this career. So deciding, okay, what am I going to do after this three week course? One of the teachers on the...

James Doran (03:36.878)

summer school had approached a couple of the students who were on the summer school and said that he had this school in France that she was setting up and starting in October 2015 that was going to be the first go at having a three month long course. Previously he'd only ever done two week summer schools and he wanted to expand the school into having a offering of three month course and so he invited some students to be a part of that.

time and the school is amazing. Just as a side note, they've since that time they've expanded to now have a I think they still do the three -month course and there's summer school but now they do a year -long acting course, two year and I think now three and they've even expanded to have both a campus in France but also in Greece they're doing a thing at the moment so they're doing very very well which is wonderful. You'll see you've grown into it.

Fantastic poetry! So that's how I decided to go for this three month. It's not a bachelor's school. Amazing. And how'd you get to Sweden? But obvious ones. Yeah. Well, because of you I guess. So that was... Well, yes. So getting to Sweden was very much just seeing how it would go.

being with you for, I think I was there for six weeks wasn't I? Yeah, six weeks after going to Spain first. Yeah, so after you moved in August 2022, I then joined you in September. And this was obviously post Brexit, so a bit of a different experience in that now we can only be in Schengen country for 90 out of 180 days. So within six months, that's two months. Yeah, not for work. Yeah.

if you're not there for work and I can't work here without being a work visa. And so I decided to join you for six weeks just to see what it was like living in Rosenberg at that time, which was an interesting experience. Whenever you go anywhere, I think, be it in your own country, be it moving abroad, anything, there really needs to be a pull for going that's, it's wonderful to go and be with your partner.

James Doran (05:57.998)

But I think if you're doing anything like that, there needs to be a reason to go this for yourself. And it's going to occupy your time and be something fulfilling for you. And I think for me, working in acting and therefore being very much freelance and finding my own working day and spending a lot of time alone, it can be very isolating. So I think whenever you're moving, if you're moving abroad, for example.

being able to find community, be it at work, you can't just do work in extracurricular activities, in finding groups that you can join, finding classes to do, and that's really important for your mental health and for science. It's a sense of independence. If you're going as a couple, or to meet someone, to join someone in some way else, you need to have your own life. As we've discovered, it can be difficult.

for me to to navigate, let alone, and I have friends here now, my work. Whereas for you, you haven't got the luxury of meeting people in the office or in a working environment, you need to somehow have that kind of connection. It's difficult. Yeah, we can discuss that a bit more in depth in the next section. Being there, but both on France and Sweden, were there any prerequisites you needed before you moved? So.

accommodation obviously stayed with me here but for France how was the accommodation situation? Pretty simple and easy going for me because I was going with a prospect of going to a school they were very good at making sure that the accommodation was sorted for us so I actually stayed with Laurent who's the head of the school with his auntie and uncle the three of us lodging in this beautiful house they lived in because they lived

Monday to Friday in Paris and then to come to Fontaineville on the weekends. And so we were living there in that house for the majority of the time, the whole time, sorry. And that was the case for all of the students there. They were all living in family. It really was an incredible cologne, resources of the community of being in that town.

James Doran (08:22.862)

Is that my training? So you said the schools grow, they invest in building their own accommodation or they... I don't know. I don't know what they do know because they have much larger cohort as well. When we did it, there was only 14 of us studying. So obviously a much more manageable number. So I don't know what they do know if they have a similar setup or perhaps similar to Airbnb, the ones in touch with people.

We'll be renting out there. I think we might have two year courses or three year courses. A lot of time for people to give up a house. And I don't know if it's open to UK residents to do the one or two year course. I don't know, but it might be that. Well, obviously, when we go abroad for the university, it's still possible to do, but you get a student visa and anyone is able to study in the country. Yeah, I guess we just have to jump through some more hoops. We did.

Any more information you want to share about how you got to either Sweden or France for things you had to do before you left? Or did you know who you were living with before you moved? Obviously me, you knew. I had you spoken to, you said you lived with two other girls. Two other people, sorry. In France. Did you know them before? Had you spoken to them before? What was the situation with them? I knew one of them because she'd been a...

with me in Guildhall so that was really great getting to know her. I'd only known for three weeks prior and we hadn't lived together beforehand but Laurent put us together which was great and then he put us with another one of my very good friends now, Oyani, who we had, sorry she had also done the course but I didn't know her so we were all just sort of lost together but

It was the best thing to happen on the course because we, the three of us really became a unit and a real support system for each other because it was an incredibly taxing, challenging, enlightening time, very emotional. And you know, you go through with everything that you do when you're stretching yourself. It was a very exposing time and with the growth comes all of the growing pains, I guess. So having...

James Doran (10:46.286)

two of my very good friends that sort of supported us through it. And actually the group, as I was saying, only 14 of us, was actually a really, really special group because it was such a small, tight -knit unit. We support each other through the experience. Because it wasn't just doing drama school, which, you know, I think it's the top drama schools, it can be quite an exposing time. It was also everyone was living a broad apartment.

were French but they were still, had moved into that situation. And you know, you're thrown into these scenarios where you have to be extremely vulnerable with other people who you don't really know that well, but you kind of have to build this level of trust. So yeah, getting to have those people that I was living with was really great because we'd already built that kind of roommate friendship and then also working together. So that was really great. Amazing.

Welcome to section two of the podcast, what being that now you've already given a bit of information about obviously your social life in France and your friends and things and I guess this is a section that covers a lot of that a lot of just your first impressions of each location and basically just day to day life anything funny has happened.

So let's start with France then. So what were your first impressions when you arrived? What did you do? Did you go straight to the house you're living in? Did you go to the school? Straight to the house to unpack everything and check in, I guess. And I think I arrived on either the Saturday or the Sunday. I can't remember now when we were starting on Monday morning. So I had a little bit of time before beginning the school, but it was a really full on.

experience. So there wasn't a lot of time for experiencing where I was living apart from a little bit in the evenings and mainly on the weekends. Of course we were there in October to December so dark evenings as well so you're not spending so much time out and about exploring. But we were in this very beautiful location, Fonsal Blots is amazing, a chateau and it's where Mary Antoinette would go to summer to her country lodge. A lot of the time I was obviously spending in school.

James Doran (13:09.774)

and it didn't feel like a hindrance at all as if I was missing out on exploring it just meant that the weekends could be full of looking around the town and also travelling into Paris which was really like what a privilege to get to go to Paris in like half an hour I think it was on the train. Super convenient. Very yeah. We even went to Disneyland on one of the trips over the weekend. I'm going to tell you about this and you'll mishap with driving. gosh yeah. You'll have to re -laborate. do I?

So then it's watching people. It's all head -butt. No, it was all head -butt. Basically, the three of us rented a car to put for the weekend so that we could go to Disneyland Paris. And we drove there, I think it was on a Sunday, drove there in the morning, all absolutely wonderful. It was a Christmas special period of time, so the float parade was even better than a regular Disney experience. And at the end of the day, we'd watched the fireworks.

had a wonderful day, we set off and this was to get back to the house and this was pre having Google Maps just readily available on your phone. Or maybe it wasn't, maybe it was just that the internet wasn't working, can't quite remember. But basically we took the wrong turn and we ended up on completely the wrong highway and we were heading towards a toll and we thought we didn't go through a toll on the way here, we were going wrong. But of course you get to the toll.

who said you can't exactly turn around. So we had to go through and pay this toll. And then we were just starting to panic thinking what the hell are we going to do? And on the side of the road, I see these policemen. I just said to them, stop, just let it stop and we're going to have to plead ignorance. Like we need help right now. So I rolled down the window. And granted at this point, my friend's just pretty okay, but I was in such a panic that I was like, we're just getting straight in with the ignorant brick. And I was just like...

Do you speak English? Yes, I was like, we're so lost. We're trying to get to Fontainebleau. Can you help us? I was very, very sweet. I was like, yes, that's fine. You're going the wrong way. He was like, granted, I've got that, thanks. He told us what to do. But what that meant was that they had to shut the entire boat, stop all the traffic so that we could turn around and go back through the top to get onto the other side. So it cost us, you know, like 12 euros and I'd do the cheaper.

James Doran (15:32.75)

We got home a lot later than scheduled, but you know, that was the tale of the hotel. So yeah, so lots of fun at the weekends basically, and a lot of exploring of the town, which is beautiful. We went to a lovely village which is next door called Bahama Lot, which was a really real treat village. It's sort of stepping back in time to 16th century, I feel like, it's gorgeous. So that took a lot of my time being there, but also getting to...

really be immersed in the culture of it at the same time. Because we had, we did have French people on the course. It was an international course, it was all in English. So we had Italian, Brazilian, Spanish, American, English, Danish, real eclectic mix of people. And within the time that we were outside of the course hours, we're obviously in Montempleux, which is, you know, it's a town in France, it's not Paris. And so then...

They did speak English, but more likely they were going to speak French too, so that was a really good opportunity for experiencing. Yes, and we were trying to counter to Sweden where you can literally survive on English alone. Yeah, really. Well, that's pretty much what is being throughout the entire experience. It's a bit of a disservice, you know, the only language you try. Attempting, which I think is, that's half of it, isn't it? Being able to show that you want to try. And that's the whole point, I think. A lot of British people get the narrative kind of press song.

don't speak in another language or you don't try. Granted, Swedish is not the most widely spoken language. So it's not everyone you learn in school, French, Spanish, German. But I think there's a lot of us who still try and learn it. And when everyone speaks English to you, even if you're not Swedish, if you're another first language speaker, a bit Spanish or French, quite often those people who are you aren't anywhere you travel do know English. So they'll speak to you in English as well as well as Swedish because their English is...

I speak English. So speaking to most people, it's really hard to converse at all in Swedish until you get to the point where I went for dinner and asked if someone had a table for two, which they did and they understand what I said. Then they followed up with another question and I was lost. No idea what I said, but it was fun to try. And that's all part of it. It's having the confidence to try and that is easier said than done. And you really have to.

James Doran (17:55.213)

to throw yourself in, commit to it. Yes, you can dip your toe in the water, but if you can kind of plunge in and not mind. It's like swimming in the sea, isn't it? It's cold. One or two minutes. That was one of my experiences. What an amazing thing to be able to do when living abroad is of course being able to explore different cities around.

you that you're within the country. Yeah, that's a good point. I think when you first came over for the first six weeks, we spent four weekends somewhere else. You know, as you were in Spain first and Dora and things. But then when you came back, you went to cover and even then to Oslo, then to Stockholm. And yeah, and you went to Allahoma said, well, I think one weekend or during the week, really took advantage of the trains. Yeah, I think learning the public transport is obviously a massive way of finding your independence.

with anywhere in the world, of course, but I think Sweden, for example, has excellent public transport. We've really taken advantage of the trains in there. And the buses as well, the Oslo, the coast. yeah, but the culture. I think the interconnectivity of the cities all over the Scandinavian region is really useful. I think the UK has its flaws being very London -centric, but transport in London is fantastic. And certain parts of the UK where you've got good local transport, whether it's transport or war.

Like Liverpool's got a good underground train which goes to, well, I can't say it from its chest and things. But to get in between cities, it's really difficult unless you have a car. Especially now with all the strikes, it feels like here they've thought about it more and prioritized it as a full transform. And I guess as well, the population is so much smaller compared to the size of the country, so, for example, the UK. Yeah, but I'll tell you. Just in terms of the sheer volume.

Yeah, it's much bigger country, size as well, and it's got relatively less money because it's got much smaller working care population. So the UK should be much richer and be able to afford to travel or produce transport between cities much closer to the other. I guess that's so overpopulated in cities compared to the UK. I think that's the struggle, particularly in, for example, London is just saturated. Yeah, London feels very...

James Doran (20:22.381)

lonely for a city with more people in London's entire country. It's quite a scary thought. Yeah. And that was another thing, just sort of comparing experiences. Being in Gothenburg and exploring the city, Trams is just not really an experience that I've had being from the UK. It's not really a thing considering I've lived in London. London is all cheap.

and. Birmingham and Manchester have them but again it's not the same volume of trams. Yeah and here the power system is so much the is the is the equivalent of the tube and yeah just glorious the amount of time that you save. Yeah. Trams and bike lanes which and the scooters on bike lanes are much safer. I know scooters exist in the UK and if you haven't got the Disney.

spaces to use them. But it's weird because you see people on mopeds or motorized scooters in these lanes like you should not be there, you're not going the speed of light. Anything else you want to add on about living in these countries I suppose? Maybe Sweden a bit more about your first impressions of here. It's probably a bit harder because you didn't know as many people the first time anyway. I think yes it's a very different experience because I think often if you are going to the abroad.

There's usually a poll, which would be it's for work, it's for studying, it could be for a partner, but where I would category. But often you might have your own work in place, which is a bit more stable, allows you to be, maybe you have transfer in your own work. And that was a big thing for being here was I was just spending a lot of time alone. And I think it's harder when you're.

things that are totally out of your control can alter your experience. For example, we went in September, turning into October and November, and as you know, it gets very dark very quickly. Yeah, it's usually getting into the end of October if it's dark. Yeah, like three o 'clock, I was sort of looking out the window going, I need to go out because I'm not going to see daylight today. It's interesting though, I think people, you weren't quite in a neutral situation where you couldn't visit me.

James Doran (22:49.997)

for a long period of time, six weeks this time, first time. Whereas I guess if you're moving for a partner, you might be moving permanently, which there is a drive. And even if you haven't got a job when you first arrive, your job hunting and that's your, I guess your priority is finding some work. And then you're likely to have found work in six weeks or at least made connections through doing that. And you might be able to socialize more.

I guess for you, you didn't have any interest in finding work here because you weren't going to work here because you had a visa. So that removes four hours a day worth of effort, which you otherwise would have spent your job hunting or being around. And there's so many times you can walk around the city in six weeks to replace it. I think we're very lucky that you've got a very good friend who lives only four hours on the bus away by train away. He gets us all this weekend in Malmo.

and that was quite a saving grace. And every time you can, I guess we'll try and meet up with certain people who live in the region for that reason. So it kind of wakes up in terms of a reason to come. I think, yeah, if you were going to move for your partner and you were moving fully, it might be a bit easier because you have that drive to find work. Well, I guess you're fully committing to the experience and.

For me, there was always the pull of being pulled between the two. I'm still working for work at home and I can't find the work in Sweden. As we said, I'm not allowed on the work visa. And so, yeah, you do feel in this limbo and it doesn't feel so much yaw.

journey or your journey and it's not my home and that kind of thing and whereas if you were moving permanently you might be moving into a home together with more of that feeling of sort of then stability or I couldn't give you an answer I suppose, I couldn't give you a choice of certain things. Having a space which is okay you might be sharing it with someone but it's still yours which is difficult I mean it's difficult for me as well because I was at work knowing that you were by yourself.

James Doran (25:12.941)

having to make sure that we had stuff to do and found things and even like a key to the house like my phone, the key to where I live is on my phone. I think that's a very individual experience. It might become more popular in the future with technology. I don't know if it should. Well, it's really, really, because my key is my phone, which works like Apple Pay or Google Pay, whatever. It's on your phone now? Yeah, but it works the same as Google Pay. It's an NFC signal.

And for that to work, I mean, back from my phone. So when I first moved, I had it on one phone. Look, I have a work phone, which I've put a key on. And you would put it on your phone when you came the first time around, which we were able to transfer on to Eee's phone. But, you know, when I first moved, I had it on one phone. And I was literally limited for when I would go out with friends to get back before my phone died, or I didn't have any way to sleep then. So. And constantly you were about charging your phone. I think that's another thing here.

Sweden's very forward into the future for thinking and they're extremely tech savvy and also very tech heavy in terms of how you work right now. Exactly how you function in society is like Swish for example. Yeah, Swish is a thing I talked about in my previous episode that I was doing myself. But it's yeah, just to recap, it's so to get Swish and Swish is like

You know how you have Monzo, you have your address book and see your office has got Monzo and you can send money to them quite quickly. And the UK bank transfers are instantaneous. In Sweden, they're not. If you want to send money to someone's bank, it takes a few days. And it's done banking. I very much care about people working when they work. It's just a slower pace of life with certain things. But Swish is a way around that way. It's linked to your bank account that you've put on the app and it will send money to a phone number, Swedish phone number.

to send their money and you can verify who it is and you have mobile bank, bank ID, which is a face recognition to say, yes, this is you sending money to this person and it's all approved. But to get that, you need to have a Swedish phone number, you need to have a Swedish bank account, you need to have bank ID to get a bank account, to get a bank account, you need to have a personal number, to get a personal visa, visa. That's the catch. To get a visa, you need to have a job.

James Doran (27:38.061)

I've been here for over a year. It's so difficult to get out of there. But once you're in, it's great, but it just takes a long time to get in. But it works, you know, as an integrated system, it's very efficient, but getting into the system is a bit of a nightmare. Yeah. So yeah, I'd say it's very tech -heavy. So you do feel as if you have to have every app that they have, but even the trouble with them, what's it called, Bustrophic?

for a bus or a bus traffic. Yeah, for the bus and the trial. You can get a card. I don't know what you buy it, but I know people have it. Bus card. Maybe buy it. It must be like the bus station might sell it or something. But we pay cards and things and you add in your like metric card in New York. But the app is much easier, I think. And then you can link that to your own account. But to get that in your bank account or personal number, which is a bit annoying. But you can pay for that just with a credit card or

but you can't sign in and have an account. Yes, more waterheading. Minefield. It's definitely a minefield. But I think we've kind of exhausted section two of being here now.

James Doran (28:57.005)

Welcome to section three of the podcast, which is kind of a review. I haven't really named it actually, but it's a review of, I guess what we've talked about, but also your experiences. I know we're still kind of exploring Sweden and rather maybe we'll do a review of this in a few months to see how it's evolved. And just any advice you want to give to people who are looking to live abroad, I guess, mainly about your experience in France.

what would you do to, or how would you advise people who were looking to do a semester abroad? What tips would you give? I think from my experience, which granted hasn't been living abroad for a longer period than three months, I think doing something, if you can do it in education, is such a privilege and such a fantastic way of experiencing another culture.

And if you went to university, for example, you can do summers abroad, you can do years abroad, do a swop at another university, the affiliate university, for example. But that's not what I did. Mine was a very separate thing. And it just meant that I really got to have that experience of another culture, another opportunity, but without having to...

massive commitment because it was only for those three months and it was with the idea of being progressive in my career because it ultimately doing that course enabled me to then audition for drama school and get in to then carry on in my career as an actress because if I hadn't done that I don't know if I would have had the skills to get in the first time around because they were teaching us what the panels are looking for when they're auditioning you.

And you just meant that you were given the tools to know how to best present yourself and feel the least nervous going in so that you can do your best work. Because we are so, I think with so much of our true selves and true ability is crowded by nerves and having the ability to control those nerves by first being able to acknowledge them and then having the tools in your toolkit to...

James Doran (31:21.357)

tackle those and overcome your nerves and turn them from nerves into, okay, this is just an excitement, this is just my... Well, exactly, it's the same response from the body. Yeah. Nervousness and excitement. So your body... You can trick your body. Receives it, it's the same thing. So it's all typological. Yeah, exactly. And so, yeah, you can alter the narrative and say, no, this is just showing that I care about this and I can go in with that drive and best foot forward. And so that's what that allowed me to do.

because every week we had audition prep for example and also we were just being fully immersed in drama school experience because we were ultimately doing a semester of drama school and they're just isolating us. So yeah, I think that's a fantastic way of getting to experience another culture and see whether you want to do that in the future or just to even be able to have that. Immediately with Erasmus, now as you mentioned since Brexit, how it's going to work, if it's available, I've not looked into it.

education anymore but it'd be a shame if it's no longer available or easily available for a lot of students because as you said a lot of my friends have done it as well who actually be on this podcast and you said you've kind of done a similar thing obviously it's not the same organization but it's semester sitting abroad so it kind of has significant parallels to that kind of program how hard it will be for students of British universities who will not be repeated to

go in the city of Rome because of the decision we made in 2016? No, yeah, I don't know, because even going back to the three -week summer school that I did, the span of countries, nationalities that were taking the course, it was massive there. People from all over the world came to do these three weeks, and what an incredible opportunity that we were all having, getting to live in London there, through, for example, if you were from...

Brazil or the States or wherever. And They might not be affected too much because they're not European but still... Yeah, sorry. So I wonder if it means that it's not so easy if it was a term. Or maybe they'll go somewhere else to a school in France or the UK because it's... But a lot of those... A lot of the people who were up on the course with me who were from elsewhere who were studying those three weeks that I had went on to then either go to drama school in the UK or just even...

James Doran (33:48.237)

live in the UK so it's quite interesting that maybe they came to those three weeks and loved it enough to want to come and spend some more of their time there, like they could consider a lot more time. And help pop up the drama school industry of the UK and showcase the main talent pool we have here. I guess I don't know how actually you might have done that all but since the decision to leave the European Union has to have drama school in the UK, can it drop in standard or they remain single?

much information around it because I guess you've not got the same full Italian community. Well, statistic at the moment because of COVID, a lot of drama schools have actually had to close because they haven't been able to stay open. It's a subject that's hard to do online and you need that intimacy. It's devastating to think that, I think it's been about three or four drama schools have had to close in the past two years. It's quite a big statistic. Yeah, the statistics still look very missing the hangover of both of those.

compound issues for the UK especially. We don't know. It's pretty interesting to people. But going back to some advice then, obviously you've moved or spent significant time in a foreign country for your partner, me. What advice would you give to someone who's doing this sort of thing? Because obviously we know it's not easy, we acknowledge there's difficulties and there's going to be sensitive subjects between.

both of you and I, I think, are quite mature with this and open so we can talk about a lot of different things and not afraid to express when one of us is upset with something called struggling. But what advice may you give to a couple, be it either partner, traveling for someone else? I think if you can research where you're going and be as prepared in terms of knowing the layout of the area, the...

What do you like to do? Do you like to do dance classes? Do you want to learn the language? Do you like art? Do you like sports? Find out what you can do that's in your life already that makes you feel, have that sense of fun, that sense of release, that exercise, that learning, whatever it is you love to do. And how can you bring those elements of your life that are going to ultimately bring joy and help your mental health?

James Doran (36:13.197)

how do you bring that into the place that you're going to be moving to? If you can research restaurants, coffee places, where the library is, where the banks are, where museums are, where you're living. Anything like that. I think knowledge is power, as we know, and being prepared is the thing that's going to, I think, make you feel more in control of going into it. I think as well, knowing that even with all that, it's not...

nothing can prepare you for the experience of being in a totally different country. And being alone for a lot of days. Yeah, yeah. Structure, I think, is the big takeaway. For you, having focus on some work projects was helpful. Definitely. Whenever I get, yeah, with my work, it's very ebb and flow with, you know, feast and find in terms of the workload at any given time. And within the time that I was here, I had some weeks where I...

was really having to self motivate the work to keep pushing whether it be looking for different people to be writing to when it was auditioning, applying for certain things. And then I had other weeks when I had multiple self tapes and auditions that I had to do, prepping for, filming. Which is filled up all day. Yeah, which. And you're leaving sometimes. Yeah. And ironically every single time we decided to go away for the weekend but never again. It's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, there's a thing about it.

I know one else has got a significant other in the creative industry. You'll always find out that every time you book to go away somewhere, they'll get an audition or project or something. So be constantly have a tripod with you at all times. Have some blank canvas literally to film against and be prepared for holding cameras and giving feedback. Yeah, that's what my...

guess actors, significant others, supporters group. Let's just start doing that online or something. Tips for creative or something. How to survive. Because it's not like a standard vocation. It's completely different. Yeah, the work days are just very different. My work days are sometimes longer than testing, but still significantly different to the stress of work.

James Doran (38:34.893)

But I guess one thing which you could see coming here is what we're working away and not here is like a writing retreat. If you are here for a long time because a lot of people do tend to go to remote locations or places of beauty. We are more than surrounded by on the coast of Sweden. It's beautiful to do a writing retreat or some kind of soul searching. Yeah, I'm going to change your mindset as well.

this is what can be used the best time with and I think that's definitely something going forward. I know the first time I think it was very much just even finding my feet. I think it became so overwhelming. Yeah, just in terms of not having, not having as I was saying, those things in place to create the structure. And I think I, the experience of having, saying about research, I did, I think I did enough research into things I could do.

for myself, it would be to film for my own time in the evenings, for example, because you had your own things in the evenings, like sports that you were doing. And because I was there for a limited time, it felt like a lot of the stuff that I'd found, I couldn't sign on to for the time I needed. Just commitment for a few weeks and stuff. Exactly. But there's not a lot to say about that, it's just being a little bit more, even more savvy with your research. Yeah, research structure.

And I think being very gentle with itself as well and knowing that it's okay to have feeling very like you have the rug structure underneath you and feeling at odds, it's very natural because you are in a totally different scenario, place and all of your things that make you feel in a comfort zone are not there because you're literally out of your comfort zone in terms of your world is not the same.

completely. Which can be quite sobering or quite nice to change but the longer you do that the harder it can be with you. You miss things naturally. that's very interesting. Thank you. Thank you for that and thank you for the advice to people to support. You're welcome. Well nothing that had to do with you especially as well but here is part for them. yeah.

James Doran (41:02.061)

little part from it. So we, every Saturday, someone very, very gratefully or graciously hosts a part from where this is, but there's a heap of volunteers who do an amazing job every week in local areas. It's very British, I think, look at the maps, it seems to be mainly work people who are British, all over the world. But we have two in Sweden, in Gothenburg, sorry, not in Sweden, but they're all over the world.

and on Saturdays at about nine o 'clock or nine 30 here or nine 15 times on the concert do change a lot more than in the UK where it's nine o 'clock. actually, it was nine 30. Yeah. but yeah, it's five K run or walk. very social. It's not about winning or winning a PB. It's all about just getting some exercise and seeing some, some beautiful scenery. You know, we've done.

I'm nearly on 50 I think now, you are 24 or something like that. All over the country when you were touring for your previous job and done some in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg. Yeah, you get to meet people, and usually meet people who are British. So if you're British then you can get good tips, hints. And it's a free event which is wonderful on a Saturday, so if you're feeling like you haven't seen any people that you can just have a chat with.

It's a really great way of suddenly feeling incredibly connected and part of the community and doing a lot of the exercise. And the one in Gothenburg, squat hats. It's a definite answer. I said it's Scottish. Well, the lady runs it, it's Scottish. I didn't actually hear Swedish spoken in the Scottish accent. I was amazed at how great the Swedish was. It was just like...

It's definitely Scottish accents like Judy Murray doing Swedish. But after the park, when they always go to Fika, which is Fika is the best invention ever. It's the Swedish. It's not an invention. It's just coffee and cake. It's coffee and cake. But it's done more seriously. It's like afternoon tea, but it was everything. The concept is the great invention of the world, committed we are to. Yeah, and it worked like every...

James Doran (43:26.541)

most days, especially on Fridays, but most days people will go and sit down and have coffee and a snack or something in the afternoon and just talk. Not about work, which is wonderful. I really like that. Yeah, so you can see people afterwards. Yeah, and that's sweet. You can get advice and get questions and meet people. Yeah, there's a lot of tourism as well with poppies. The other thing that since being here that you've joined is an open hour.

as well as the Facebook group. yes. It's in Gothenburg and that, once I joined that, I did suddenly feel a lot more connected to the number of people that were living in Gothenburg who are British. Yeah. So we're all asking questions. Yeah. So that's just any kind of page. Well, I've asked questions a few times on the Facebook group and you get answers like same days, literally, I was proud of what's to rugby. And I posted the question thing.

Hello, does anyone know where I can watch the rugby? And they said, you go to Flying Barrel, pump off the avenue. And I went over and it was full of all the British people and it was really good fun. It's like being at home. I felt like that kind of, it's always good to have that kind of place to feel at home when you're at home. Definitely. Nice segue into having the page to then going to certain places and such events.

Yeah, we're finding certain things that remind you of them, which are quite handy to have. That's a good tip as well. And lastly, using Meetup. I've used it a couple of times to go on walks and play rugby golf. So what is Meetup? It's an app, it's kind of like an events app, but you join a group based on a common interest, be it language, be it... there's a few book clubs on there which are...

be meaning to do and try and that showed you that you're obviously heavily interested in literature, much better than I am at doing that stuff. So you'll probably enjoy it and a great way to meet people. But also they have hiking and photography and all over the world. So meet up is an app where people in your area just make a group and go, I want to do or get involved in photography, okay.

James Doran (45:47.661)

I set up an event saying let's go walk around the city taking pictures. So every, the first week of the month, there's a photography group which go around all the time taking pictures every month. It's beautiful, you can see how this has changed throughout the year. Yeah, just being around for a while. Yeah, and you make good friends with them. I did it for a reason. We have social pictures. we? And you guys. And you can put us on the air as well. Have a day.

Am I hungry? I'm getting... Don't look at me. Best person. Well that kind of concludes section three. Right so thank you for human me, human being on this podcast. You're welcome James. I guess helping tell stories of living abroad and sharing the trials and tribulations of expat life and yeah.

or hopefully inspiring to be able to do the same thing giving some advice if you are looking to move abroad or actually moving abroad hopefully you've got some insight into what it's like or some tips or just some humor maybe you know i used to focus about parenting and haven't got any kids but i find it hilarious that kind of thing i hope you have a safe distance yeah i hope you've yeah either found it entertaining or

and some nugget of information which has given you a great tip for your future endeavors should it be abroad or even in the own city or even just traveling you know great tips you've given about walking tours and knowing where you're going okay it's a sense of wanting to be adventurous but also having a foresight and doing a bit of planning is always beneficial no matter if it's a short bit of holiday or vacation or semester

Or if you're moving semi permanently or permanently to another place. Yeah, it's been great having you expand that and really unlock notes I have in my head as well through this conversation, which I really appreciate. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much for having me. And if you've found some insight into this podcast, then please let us know. Please.

James Doran (48:10.605)

get in touch on social media or leave a comment or leave a five star review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. So we can follow that's how you grow. Just follow what I've announced on podcasts. Only five stars allowed. But yeah, it all serious if you have found some information or you want to ask a question, you know, I have lined up quite a few friends of mine and colleagues.

to be on this and talk about what they've done and how they've moved abroad from all over the world. If you have any advice or want me to talk about something in future, what brings up a topic, I do, if enough come in, I do plan on doing an FAQ based episode, just going through loads of questions that have come in from you amazing people listening and supporting this kind of endeavor of mine. Yeah, which actually is another thing about living abroad is I've started this podcast because my evenings are very much...

void when because my my girlfriend lives abroad and my family live abroad so my social life is quite i guess narrow you know with a handful of great people but they're not always free so you can't play you can't play sports every night no well if i could i would but it's probably not i would end up not eating this so yeah having a passion project like this is

been something which has been great for me. So yeah, if you have found something useful in this, please let me know, please get in touch. I am on all social media for this account, which I'll share notes and I hope to see you next time.