When you leave your home country and move abroad as a young person, you probably have a plan for finding a place to live, securing employment, maybe even getting health insurance.

But what about when it comes to finding love?

Dating offers unique challenges to expats, who often have a hard time communicating or even just being themselves in a foreign language, understanding local dating "rules," and adapting to cultural norms that can often be totally foreign.

Today's guest Maddalena Vario experienced this for the first time when she moved from Puglia, Italy to Brazil as a student. A second expat experience working in Ireland provided even bigger hurtles, when she made many mistakes—mistakes she discovered later are common to expats.

Twenty years later, Maddalena now lives in London with her husband, and she draws on her many experiences dating in foreign cultures for her work as a relationship and dating coach.

Find Maddalena on Instagram or on her website.

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