Jen Knight says that she "won the in-laws lottery" when it comes to her Chinese husband's parents. But luck wasn't on her side this past January, when a day after she arrived in her husband's hometown just outside of Wuhan for a Spring Festival

#058: Studying Anxiety In Expats In the Time of COVID-19 | Chris Barnhart

Mar 30th, 2020 44m 3s

This week we're kicking off Season 4 with part 1 of a special 2-part series focusing on a pair of international migrants who have written a study on how the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China effected foreign nationals living there. The lead

#057: Emergency Pod with Coronavirus Expats

3 Feb 6th, 2020 35m 31s

We're interrupting our inter-season interregnum to bring you a discussion with a group of expats who live in China but who have found themselves "stuck" in Bali after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan shut down virtually all businesses and most

#056: The Expats Are Alright | Dr. Sonia Jaeger

Jan 6th, 2020 42m 50s

It's part 2 of the two-part Season 3 finale, wherein Mike & Alisa take a look at the issues and problems that have come up for the in their move from Beijing to Bali with a professional. Dr. Sonia Jaeger is a clinical psychologist & psychothera

#055: Big Trouble On the Little Island of the Gods | Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati IV

Dec 30th, 2019 45m 58s

Season 3 is coming to a close, and in part 1 of the two-part season finale I'm joined by my wife, Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati, to talk about our move from Beijing to Bali, which is our first transition between locations as a couple. There have b

#054: Mental Health In A 'Global Nomad's World' | Daniela Tomer

Dec 23rd, 2019 44m 24s

Daniela Tomer, founder of Global Nomad's World, knows something about migration. Not only is she a clinical psychologist who specializes in helping families deal with the issues surrounding migration, but she's the product of migration herself.

#053: "The Immigrant Story's Not Dead." | Dr. Victoria T.

Dec 16th, 2019 43m 20s

As Victoria sees it, "To become an American, you have to put in a lot of work." After all, that's been her story. Victoria's path to the U.S. started with a stroke of luck: Her mother won the visa lottery, granting her and her daughter entry to

#052: A Passion for Naked Nut Butters | Meredith Sides

Dec 9th, 2019 33m 40s

Nut butters were never supposed to be a part of Meredith Sides' life; but, then again, neither was living abroad. Not wanting to choose the path that most other people in her small town followed - moving from high school into the trades, farmin

#051: Building Community with Qmmunity | Gabby Gabriel

Dec 2nd, 2019 38m 8s

We all need community. And nobody needs community more than people who move overseas; we leave family and friends behind when we move, and building new networks and support systems is vital for us. This can be an especially fraught process for

#050: Thriving In the Expat Music Scene | Steven McKinney

Nov 25th, 2019 41m 57s

Wherever people gather, you'll find music. This certainly holds true for migrant communities. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the music being made in the places finds its way into popular culture. In a world of streaming and niche audien

#049: The Challenge of Caring for Elder Family While Abroad | Shannon Martin

Nov 18th, 2019 35m 12s

Shannon Martin thinks a lot about life stages- of podcasts and of people. Currently the Director of Communications at Podbean, the hosting platform for all of Migration Media's shows, she has a bird's eye view of the rapidly-changing world of o

BONUS 04: The Bittersweet Life #270, "STATES"

Nov 14th, 2019 34m 46s

This week I've got some more bonus content to share with you: a recent episode of The Bittersweet Life podcast. On my last episode I spoke with co-host Katy Sewall about her journey from a safe career with NPR to expat, to podcasting entreprene

#048: Documenting Her 'Bittersweet Life' | Katy Sewall

Nov 11th, 2019 47m 22s

Katy Sewall used to be, as she says, one of those "get-a-great-job-and-hang-onto-it" kind of people. That is, until she got an opportunity to move to Rome where her best friend from childhood, Tiffany Parks, had been living for several years. A

#047: Her Grades Made Her Do It & Plant-based Consulting | Chaniece Brackeen

Nov 4th, 2019 36m 23s

Chaniece started her journey towards life overseas when she was deciding which foreign language to take in college. As it turned out, the professor with the highest satisfaction ratings from students taught Chinese, so that's what she chose. Af

BONUS 03: Ricci Scholars Special

Oct 31st, 2019 14m 8s

This week I've got a bonus mini-pod for you! Both before and after my interviews with Olivia Muszynski & Alaina Miller - the Ricci Scholars featured in my previous two episodes - we had fun, engaging conversations about a lot of topics that I c

#046: Ricci Scholars 2 - Examining Migrant Housing | Alaina Miller

Oct 28th, 2019 31m 46s

While the small town in Michigan where she grew up is the place that she goes back to whenever she "needs a safe haven," Alaina Miller doesn't think of it as "Home" anymore. Not since she set off for school in Chicago- and especially not since

#045: Ricci Scholars 1 - Contrasting Cultures Thru Real Estate | Olivia Muszynski

Oct 21st, 2019 34m 30s

This week I'm sharing the first of my conversations with two recipients of the 2018-2019 Ricci Scholarship. This Loyola University program offers scholarships to highly qualified students to spend their junior year studying abroad in 2 countrie

#044: Uncovering the Untold Story of 'The Six' | Steven Schwankert

Oct 14th, 2019 48m 2s

Steve Schwankert is one of the proudest and most committed expats that I've ever met. Originally from "the part of New Jersey that loves Spingsteen, and not the part that loves Bon Jovi," Steven had his eyes set on moving to China as early as h

BONUS 02: The Stoop #07 - Coming to America

Oct 10th, 2019 26m 15s

This week we're sharing a little something extra with you: The episode of The Stoop that got me hooked on the show! As I discussed with her during our interview earlier this week, co-host Hana Baba has explored and discovered new things about h

#043: From Sudan to America to 'The Stoop' | Hana Baba

Oct 7th, 2019 41m 8s

Hana Baba, the award-winning host of Crosscurrents on KALW & co-host of the groundbreaking podcast, The Stoop, grew up in much the same way as her baby sister, Ethar (see previous episode)- by splitting her time between Khartoum, Sudan, and the

#042: The Sudan-America Two-step | Ethar Baba

Sep 30th, 2019 36m 58s

This week I'm bringing you the first of my conversations with two sisters who've shared a similar globe-spanning bi-cultural upbringing. Ethar Baba is the youngest in a family of 6 Sudanese-American children who all split their time between the

#041: Pop Abroad | Michelle Ibarra

Sep 23rd, 2019 40m 16s

We kick off Season 3 of the show by welcoming our newest team member to Migration Media, Michelle Ibarra! Her show, Pop Abroad, explores the keys to finding success and living your best life overseas. The show's first season explores the import

Season 3 Is Coming!

Sep 20th, 2019 2m 52s

Welcome to Season 3 of Migratory Patterns! After dozens of conversations across 2 seasons I'm more passionate than ever about exploring the lives of international migrants. What drives us to move away from home? What makes us stay overseas? And

BONUS 01: Podcast Brunch Club Beijing - June 2019

Jul 2nd, 2019 1h 3m

Season 2 has wrapped, but I'm dropping this special bonus episode as a "Going On Hiatus" present. This past spring, I organized a Beijing chapter of Podcast Brunch Club, a global community of podcast enthusiasts who gather each month to talk ab

#040: Leaving Beijing Behind - Season 2 Finale | Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati III

Jun 25th, 2019 50m 25s

This is it dear listeners. We've come to the end of yet another season- and what a ride it's been! When I began this experiment last summer I was searching for community. I was thinking a lot about the changes that I have gone through as I have