Cate caught the travel bug in a big way where she continually returned to Europe, became independent and finally decided to lead a life helping others with re-entry and repartiation.

About Cate

Cate is an author, teacher, and part-time nomad based in North Carolina, USA. For over 20 years she has helped all kinds of global souls successfully navigate international and intercultural transitions. She has lived, studied, worked and traveled in 36 countries on four continents and never says no to gelato.

Cate moved to Germany at 16 to live with a German family and attend a German school for her senior year of high school, then returned for a year of college, then to teach English for a year after college, then for several shorter stints to teach German for a study abroad program and do research.

Cate is also a workshops facilitator, speaker and worked with international schools in Europe, Latin America, and Australia. And, of course, she has traveled a lot including taking career breaks to travel with her husband.

“Going abroad just throw you off kilter in such a good way and it can make you question everything about yourself.”

— Cate Brubaker

When coming home...

Emotions Cate faced - Didn't want to go home and really resisted the transition. Excited to see family and friends, felt very disconnected. Conflicting emotions and Cate didn't know how to be the person she was in Germany back home. Feelings of guilt
Biggest stress - Felt like she had lost her life from abroad and her life from home.
How Cate supported herself - Wrote in her journal, had some amazing people who were wonderful support systems for her. Cate wrote chain letters with her connections abroad (in the 90s before the internet).
How Cate used her mindset - she set out with a new attitude, like she could do anything. She would 'just do it!' A lot of seeds were planted during this time and it took her 20 years to process the experiance.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock