Dong Mei I’m from Harbin, in the north-east of China, but I moved to Wales last year to do a Master’s degree. It’s the first time I’ve lived away from home, so I miss family, but most of the time I love it. I’m living in the university halls of residence. I have my own room with a sink to wash in, but I have to share the bathroom. That’s not great. Sometimes you have to wait or people leave it dirty. I also share the kitchen, but that’s OK because it’s a good place to meet the other students and talk. I’ve taught some of my flatmates to cook some Chinese dishes! Some of them didn’t know to cook eggs, so it’s really helped to make friends.

I think I’m more confident now, maybe because I have to do things for myself and I find I can do them well. Well, I can do them OK. And I love the freedom to do what I want. I can come home late and I don’t have to answer questions about where I’ve been.

Kenta I work for a big Japanese car company. It’s a secure job and the money’s good, but because I’m a junior member of staff, I have to work in different places overseas every couple of years. Sometimes junior staff don’t want to go, but they can’t say no, because refusing can affect their future career. However, I always think it’s a great opportunity and I learn about other cultures. Anyway, I’m currently based in Togliatti in Russia, about 500 miles south-east of Moscow. It’s very different to my home town, Fukuoka. It’s colder, of course, and the food is very different too, but I have a nice apartment on the top floor of a big block.

The hardest thing for me this time is that my wife and two children are still in Japan. I can visit three times a year, and we keep in touch online, but I get very lonely sometimes and I miss my kids terribly. On the positive side, though, I’m getting more experience and learning a lot, and that’s very useful to get a senior job in the company.

elsieMy husband died three years ago after 50 years of happy marriage and I decided that I didn’t want to stay in our old house. It contained too many memories. I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m now living in an old people’s home on the south coast of England. I know they don’t have a very good reputation, but my family looked at lots of places and chose very well.

I have my own room, which is very important, and I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to. If I want to spend the whole day in bed reading, I can. Having said that, the home often organises nice trips out, and of course I go and visit my family regularly. The staff here are wonderful: they’re always polite and they treat us with respect. They look after us really well.

YohannesUntil last year, I lived with my parents in the capital of Eritrea, Asmara, but here everyone under the age of 50 has to do military service, so now I’m living in a big base out in the desert. Luckily, we’re not at war with anyone at the moment, so I don’t have to fight. Mainly, we work on construction projects: helping to build roads and airports and factories and so on. I’m paid about $30 a month and I try to send most of that to my parents as I don’t have to buy much for myself here. Still, I worry about my parents because I was supporting them more before.

Officially, we have to do eighteen months in the army, but some people have been here much longer. Actually, some of my friends decided to leave the country to avoid all this. I understand them, but personally I hope I can help my country develop – and then go home to help my family again!