My daughter has been in schools in two countries across three different systems — a bilingual Swedish-German private school in Vienna, a German-English bilingual private school in Switzerland, and next year the local Swiss public school. Every single one of those decisions was made deliberately, for specific reasons, with real trade-offs.

This week I'm talking about what I actually learned navigating school systems abroad — the real cost of international school versus local school, what the Swiss tracking system at grade six means and why it matters more than most expat content will tell you, and the questions you actually need to ask about your destination's school system before you move.

Also: what gifted identification in Austria taught us about Swiss education policy, and why we're moving our daughter to local school before sixth grade on purpose.

You have the plan. You have the country, the visa, the number, the Tuesday Test results. You know this works.

Now you have to tell people.

This week I'm walking through every type of person you're going to tell about your move abroad — the Catastrophizer, the Underminer, the one who makes it about themselves, the Unsolicited Expert, and the rare and precious Quiet Supportive One — and exactly how to handle each of them without abandoning your plan or your sanity.

Also: the partner conversation, the people who won't come around, and what you actually don't owe anyone an explanation for.

Spoiler: it's more than you think.

Conversation starters

You picked a country. Amazing. Now let's find out if it actually works.

Not the Instagram version — anyone can imagine themselves somewhere beautiful on a Saturday with a glass of wine and nowhere to be. The Tuesday version. The one where you need to buy toilet paper and find a dentist and figure out whether your visa actually works and whether you can afford to live there on your actual budget.

This week I'm walking you through the Tuesday Test — five questions that tell you whether your country works for your real life or whether you need to adjust one thing before you go any further.

Spoiler: it's almost always just one thing. And one thing is completely fixable.

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