GirlGI | Girl Gone International Issue 8 | Page 64

Thank You for Being a Friend
Phillips’ story echoes those same sentiments: Her
work at a South Korean university has taken her
to China, Thailand, and several countries in Africa,
and has included stints teaching women’s studies
and journalism to undergraduates. As she says, ‘It
is difficult to give up a good thing just to move back
home where there is still a high unemployment rate
and few good opportunities’ for someone with her
skill set.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, ‘There is
nothing on this earth more to be prized than true
friendship.’ True friendships are doubly important
for GGIs, especially when they have spent a long
time abroad.

Taryn Hughes is an American in Berlin whose

work has focused on rehabilitating trauma survivors with yoga, dance and movement therapy and
who has spent her career advocating for juvenile
prisoners. She told GirlGI, ‘[M]y friends are true
angels. Our friendships are just as deep or deeper
now than when I left. With the extended vacation
allotment here [in Germany], it’s nice to have large
chunks of time to see them.’

Nina Pantelic, who was born in Serbia, grew up

there and in the US and now lives in Spain,
advises that ‘If you open yourself up to your new
Sabina Stachura was born and raised in Poland culture, you often find a plethora of friends who
but moved to Ireland to save up for university; from want to share their [culture] with you, and [who
there moved to California. Although she finds that
want to] learn about your own.’Of course, living
‘the hardest part of moving abroad is being far from abroad for an extended period of time can somefamily and friends,’ her ‘relationship with family and times take its toll. As Cavalla says, ‘When you live
friends got stronger’ since she moved away. She
abroad for such a long time, you are not quite sure
says that they now ‘spend hours talking on Skype
where your roots are.’
[and] catching up through text messages.’
On the other hand, rootlessness can be quite
And of course, while it is normal to miss friends
liberating for others. Barbarella from Paris, a
and family from back home, GGIs are usually
Chilean who has been living in Paris for the last six
adept at making friends wherever they travel.
years, says that ‘Being permanently in the state of
Philips notes that she has made friends who ‘are
mind of a foreigner is a great feeling: I get to live
like family to me’ and that ‘It is great to have friends the life of a gypsy even though I settled down in
from all over the globe so that I have someone to
another place, travelling around and discovering
visit when I travel.’ Visiting friends when travelling
new things.’
‘makes my travel experiences so much more
personal and worthwhile.’