‘An Adult Study Abroad’: How Americans Moving Overseas Are ‘Test-Driving’ Cities

While short-term rentals have been in the spotlight in recent years, a weeklong stay is rarely enough to capture the true sense of local life, especially in a foreign city.For a growing cohort of Americans looking to "test drive" living abroad, mid-term rentals are filling the gap between a brief getaway and a permanent move."Moving to another country seems like such a big commitment, that this is a way to take the pressure off," says Alyssa La Spisa, a New York City-based influencer who recently spent a month in London living in an apartment managed by Blueground, a housing platform specializing in mid-term rentals. "I think it's a good way to have those life experiences without having to fully uproot your life."La Spisa, who runs the lifestyle Instagram account The Recommendista and commands over 135,000 followers across her social media channels, partnered with Blueground to experience London as a local or an expatriate rather than a tourist, but without having to make a life-altering commitment."I called it my adult study abroad, where I wasn't in school, not studying, just working and living in another city and testing it out," La Spisa tells Realtor.com®. The Instagram conten...