Moving is always a scary thought. Youโll basically be leaving a place you called home for a long time in favor of one that you barely know. Itโs scary enough to move to a different city โ let alone abroad.
However, the more prepared you are, the less scary it becomes. When you are moving abroad, you need to be aware of the fact that youโll be leaving your comfort zone. You probably wonโt even be using the same language โ so itโs going to be a big change.
Things wonโt be easy from the very beginning โ but they can become better if you are prepared for them. You just need to keep several things in mind so that you can tackle moving like a boss.
- Home Will Stop Being โHomeโ
Once you have moved abroad, your previous home wonโt be โhomeโ anymore โ regardless of what you do to the place. The old concept of home will have to change since you will now have your heart set into two places: where you left and where you are now.
Hereโs another catch: once you go to your first home, youโll start missing the second one โ the one abroad. Thatโs because that place has become a place of many memories โ a place you hold dear. So โhomeโ will never be just one place anymore.
- Relationships Wonโt Stay the Same
Itโs one thing to temporarily move abroad for a month or two and itโs a whole different thing to completely change your residence. Youโre all going to say โoh, but weโll keep in touch, weโll Skype every day, weโll hang onto our relationship!โ Sometimes, itโs true; but generally, less than 10% of friendships survive this kind of ordeal.
Yes, youโll talk often during the first few weeks. Then youโll start complaining that you will miss each other. Then youโll talk again to make up for it. And then, you will no longer talk as often anymore โ mainly because youโll be hanging out with new people. People that you make friends with there.
Itโs not like you wonโt be friends with those people. Itโs just that you wonโt have anything to exchange anymore โ because youโll barely be part of each otherโs lives.
- You Canโt Just โWingโ a Language
If youโre thinking that you can learn a language by just listening to the native people speak it, youโre greatly mistaken. You need to at least have the basics down. You donโt have to become an expert in the language. Just learn enough so that if you go there, you wonโt die of hunger simply because you did not know how to ask the salesman for a piece of bread.
After that, you can perfect it by practicing in the said country. As we already mentioned, you donโt have to be an expert โ but if you donโt even know how to say hi or tie two sentences together, most citizens wonโt even give you the time of day.
- Youโll Inevitably Feel Lonely
โI know the language,โ โIโm familiar with the culture,โ โIโll make a lot of friends thereโ โ these things will obviously cross your mind. Still, you need to remember one thing: youโll be walking among strangers. At least at the beginning.
Friends wonโt be waiting for you the moment you set foot in the airport. If youโre lucky, youโll have one or two friends who helped you get there โ but most of them will be โhome,โ exactly where you left them. Sure, they may be just one phone call away โ but they will no longer be within walking distance.
You will miss home. Youโll be homesick. And it may take you more than a year until you get to know some people that you can actually connect to. The feeling of homesickness wonโt truly go away, but if you are lucky enough to find the right people, then things will become more bearable.
- Youโll Need to Manage Your Money
Moving abroad is never going to be cheap. Youโll need money for the plane, youโll need money for a home deposit โ and youโll most likely need money to survive a month or two there. Even if you get your hands on a job before you move countries, you may still need some time off until the paperwork is done.
In most cases, you will have to go there, get your citizen number โ and then youโll be able to start working. And you canโt really hang on to your expenses if you donโt put aside some cash beforehand.
- Itโs Not All Rainbows and Sunshine
You see all kinds of pictures on Pinterest that glorify the place, making it seem like heaven on earth. You see travelers smiling, people with nice tans walking around happily, and the beauty of the city makes you think โthis is a nice place to live.โ And it might actually be a beautiful place.
At the same time, youโll have a fair number of downsides โ thatโs for certain. Your problems may revolve around financial reasons, shady neighborhoods โ or an apartment that is not exactly what you have been hoping for. It would be ideal to not put that place on a pedestal.
- Youโll Need to Grow Up
If your life has previously been all rainbows and sunshine, then hereโs some news flash for you: if you move abroad, youโll have to grow up very fast. Most likely, you will be alone there, facing jobs, rent, insurances, visas, and all that adult stuff that would scare you normally.
Whether you like it or not, you will have to become a more responsible person. Unless you have someone to help you out there, youโll have to deal with everything all alone. And when you are in an unfamiliar country, this will make you have to grow up very fast.
Final Thoughts
Moving abroad can be rather scary โ but if you hang on to the right mindset and you keep some things in mind, it can become much bearable. Time helps a lot as long as you are willing to adjust.
Author Bio: Jessica H works for Hire A Mover ย โ her fatherโs moving company. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling around the world to different surf spots and tasting the local cuisine.
