Meet global minds

Posted: 15th December 2011 by admin in Uncategorized

Hi all

To all who miss the international communities and want to meet global minds from many different countries: There is a Social Network called “InterNations” which is for expatriates worldwide. The Network is highly professional, people from all over the world are there and talk about traveling, living in different countries and you can also find job offers in the Network. The best of the Network is that the different communities organize monthly “Meet-Ups” for the expatriates. The Network connects expat communities in many cities and countries of the world. The Network is for free but then you can´t do so many things. There is also a option to pay something to be able to do more things but I think that most people use it without paying anything.The headquarter is in München/Germany. The language in the Network is English.

I went yesterday to the monthly Meet-Up of the Santo Domingo community and it was again very nice. I met a couple from Japan. There were people from many European countries, from the US, from Canada, from many different Latin American countries and also Dominicans. Some time ago I met a Spanish couple in a Meet-Up which I befriended and we still meet. It is interesting to talk to this people because some had an interesting live, have interesting jobs here.There are also TCKs although most people are here in the Dominican Republic because their company send them, because they do business here, because they work for an embassy or for the foreign service. Many will only be here for a short time.

InterNations is a closed Network so if you want to join it you have to options: you can request an invitaion, then you have to answer some very easy questions (like: What makes you a global mind?). The second possibility is to be invited by a member. I´m a member so if you want to join InterNations I can invite you. The only thing I need is your name and your email-adress. Don´t worry, I will not use your email-adress for anything else then send you an invitation if you want to join InterNations. 

Personally I don´t use so much the Network of InterNations, I´m a member of InterNations to get information about the Meet-Ups.

Here you can see in which cities exist InterNation communities:

http://www.internations.org/localcommunities/cities/more

Homepage of InterNations: http://www.internations.org/

There is also a page of InterNations on Facebook.

  1. Anonymous says:

    Hi Hannah, I know exactly what you mean and I’ve been there myself. I don’t know how many times when I was in University meeting a new class where I had to introduce myself and say where I was from….and I always had the same dilemma as you; do I just make it up and say ‘Britain’ (depsite having not lived there but having a passport from the UK) or telling the truth which would then take forever, but also run the risk of making me look arrogant or that I was seeking attention, but then that is me, and my background so why shouldn’t I? It’s a hard one…because at the same time, I wanted to be seen as ‘different’ because people would hear my English accent but I felt so completely and utterly different and at times, very lost and by being clear of where I was from was a way to acknowledge that, if you get what I mean..

     

    I work in International Development and you would think that my colleagues would see my background as positive because it is highly relevant to work in ‘developing countries’ and most of them are, but others have piped up and labeled me several things ranging from ‘one of those international brats’ to ‘expatriate kid’….this completely gets me riled up because it’s a very nasty way of labelling a very diverse group of people and comes from people I rarely know, so there are definitely perceptions of what a TCK is…..

  2. Anonymous says:

    I came back right now from another InterNations Santo Domingo Meet-Up. We met in an Mexican restaurant with very good food and good cocktails. Like always there were people from many different countries. I go always to these monthly Meet-Ups so that I know already many people who also come regularly but there are always people which I don´t know and who come for the first time. I talked to a women from Japan who moved here two weeks ago. I will meet the Japanese women and some other people also outside of the InterNations Meet-Ups. These Meet-Ups are a good way to make new friends and I always enjoy them.