I’m from York. But the one in Pennsylvania — NOT Australia’s Top Festival Town.
As a child, I grew up thinking 12-hour flights were standard. My first plane ride was at eight-months old, and once a year I’d make the long trip from Pennsylvania to China to spend my summers with relatives in Shanghai. It was then I fell in love with traveling.
The Bund, 1995
At 18, I took a year off from university and moved to China. I traveled around the country, fractured my foot playing an Irish sport, wrote up events for a city blog, and worked at a tech start-up in Shanghai. I fell in love with living abroad.
I’m happy to say I’ve never had the “escape the cubicle” experience. A year and a half after I returned from China, I graduated with my degree in political science. Two weeks later I left the US for good. I moved to Singapore on a whim, where I cut my teeth in social media marketing on an Asian reality television show. There I met a handsome Brit and we spent the year traveling around Southeast Asia, while I also freelanced in international sports events in Asia and Australia.
Now I’m 23, living in Paris, engaged to the Brit (who still lives 6,000 miles away in Singapore), and pursuing my dream career in international sports media. In 2012 I covered swimming and athletics at the London Olympics and spent a month in Azerbaijan for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
I pursue a life of constant expattery (let’s say that’s a real word) because I don’t want to work a job I hate to save money to travel; I’d rather make a living abroad and travel from an international base. And, well, I actually enjoyhaving a routine and pursuing my career; plus expat life allows me to form a social circle and immerse myself in a culture.
This would not have happened if I had just visited as a tourist.
My philosophy is Travel slow, but never so slowly that you get too comfortable. I like having time to take in everything about a country, but I try not to live anywhere longer than 18 months. I also love living spontaneously — I don’t know where I’ll go next when my contract in Paris ends, and I kind of like it that way.
Paris Gaels
Lastly: I love anything Irish or related to Ireland. I picked up Gaelic football when I was in Dalian and have since played on teams in China and Paris. Irish sport: It’s a thing. *The photoblog of my China years can be found here.
Contact
Want to get in touch? I can be reached at expatedna@gmail.com, or on twitter @ednacz.
I'm an American writer living in Paris and serial expat addicted to living abroad. I believe in traveling while you're young – and that it's possible to balance long-term travel, a career, and a relationship at the same time. I first moved abroad at 18 and have been permanently overseas since graduating in 2010. I've built a career in media and journalism through living in China, Singapore, and Paris, and have covered sports events from London to Azerbaijan. I currently travel solo while engaged to someone 6,000 miles away. 
Hi Edna!
Nice to meet you! I just discovered your blog :) I’m Malaysian but I’ve been living in France for almost 7 years now…
If you want to discover the north of France (I’m living in Lille), just tell me!
Bonne journée!
Hi Edna and welcome to Paris!
I think we’re connected on twitter through Kasia.
If you’re interested in coming to the spring kickoff of THATLou (Treasure Hunt @ the Louvre) on Sunday 4 March take a look at THATLou.com or drop me a line at daisydeplume@gmail.com.
Kind regards,
Daisy de Plume
love anything irish?! wow, that’s great to know!! =)
You’re an inspiration! Can’t wait to read more :)
Hi Edna – thanks for following my blog. If you ever want to meet for coffee while you’re in Paris, drop me a line – I think we’d have lots to talk about! (Strangely enough, Galway is also one of my favourite places in Ireland!) :)
Hi Enda, thanks for the great blog. So cool to see you playing Gaelic football ! I originally logged onto your post about Dublin, which was excellent. You ask for further suggestions, so I am going to leave one or two in the right place, ie: in the comments under your Dublin post. For anyone of your readers who is particularly interested in Dublin or planning a visit there over the next few months, they might wish to visit my blog too. Although the older posts are about Buenos Aires in Argentina, I am from Dublin and the more recent posts, and the future ones are all about Dublin. There is even a little picture quiz there at the moment. Well done again on your blog… it is great!
Welcome to Ireland. I moved here about a year ago from Vancouver (I also have a bit of a bug and lived in a few cities in Asia) and it’s taking a while to get used to it. Galway is very lovely. Are you still in Ireland?
Good for you girl. Living the life. I just started my own wanderings in 2010, but hope to continue for the rest of my life.
You go girl! ;-)
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your adventures certainly look exciting! I’ll be following regularly!
Hi Edna, London this year is very exciting actually, are you gonna be there?
You have been nominated for a Kreativ Blogger Award. Enjoy! http://culturalquirks.com/2012/05/31/award-season-is-here/
I came across your site via a retweet and started looking around. I’m also from York, PA, and am so happy to find a travel blog of a fellow (York) Pennsylvanian. Can’t wait to start following your adventures. :)
Hi Edna! Great blog you have here! My hubby and I moved from Singapore to Paris last year and like you, are exploring the city and sharing our adventures (Paris and beyond) in our blog. To many adventures in the days/weeks/years ahead as we satisfy our wanderlust :)
Because I love reading your blog so much I´ve nominated you for the Lovely Bloggers award! For more information check out my blog! Hope you´re having a great Sunday! :)
Thanks for the follow! You’re blog looks great. I love connecting with fellow travel addicts!
You are an inspiration
Fun! I lived in Singapore for 4 months when I was 17, and not my hubby and I are expats in Serbia! I have the travel bug as well! Happy travels!
Wow, this website is really fantastic Edna – beautifully designed and laid-out, beautifully photographed and most importantly interesting to read. Congratulations on the redesign and a job well done, work in progress and all.
Just stumbled upon your blog and read your story. It’s always interesting to know how people get to travel around the world. Your story though seems somewhat more similar with mine than the other travel bloggers. I move countries a lot too (7 cities so far), but I stay at one place a bit more than a year (so far 3 years is the longest in the past 14 years). I’ve lived in Singapore and Australia too, and am now in London. Sounds familiar? :)
Great story! I really wish I had taken the idea of living abroad seriously when I was in school. Better late than never, I suppose. Currently, I’m working to pay off some bills then the plan is to move to China and start a business. Congrats on the engagement!
Dearest E,
Finally your wonderful post on the background of the Expat Edna blog is live.
Sorry it took me so long!
http://thatlou.com/2012/12/09/friends-of-thatlou-edna-zhou/
xx,
D
Just looked at your about page for the first time and I LOVE that picture of you when your little at the Bund. TOO cute! just had to say that…. :)
Hopped over here after a comment you left, and I have to give you a special hello from one Pennsylvania native to another! I’m from Philly (born & raised!) and am so envious of your fantastic expat life. Living in Paris is a dream I’ve had for as long as I can remember, and I’m making it come true next spring! Well, hopefully, there are a lot of little things to take care of first. I’m so happy you found my blog so I could find yours! I’m going to go do some catch-up reading. :) xo
What a great story! So glad I came across your blog today.