Yep. I have done this in the past and will likely do so again. In my experience it takes a few years to get over the culture shock and even then there are "huh?!" moments. I've had a few cultural breakdowns, I will admit. I once got so fed up with the way things were going that I stormed over to the nearest American themed restaurant and ordered two cheeseburgers and two Budweisers, eating and drinking both simultaneously. There's a lot of romantic notions out there about expat life, and the reality is much different.

A lot of ex-pats tend not to make much effort in assimilating and that can be a major isolator. Not everyone experiences this particular loneliness, but many don't consider the sheer effort it can take to live outside of one's culture. The other side of that is sometimes ex-pats tend to congregate with other ex-pats. Personally I don't like most large ex-pat communities as they tend to create a bubble around themselves which can lead to feelings of superiority or other weirdness.

I used to live in a place with a Russian ex-pat community and I was friends with a few of the guys who were really great, but by and large the community was very insular, going so far as to have their own compound. Granted, most of them worked for the same company, but it got to the point where no other ex-pats were allowed inside it, due to an incident at a Christmas party where several of my friends were accused of hitting on women they shouldn't have. That's a really extreme case though.

Living in a place for a few months is very different from making a life in a place though, in my experience. It can still be a really great experience, but it's kind of like eating a fast food burger compared to eating one made by a guy who has made nothing but hamburgers for 50 years and has it down to a fine art.