Moving to another country is the greatest adventure of all. Of course, you’ve got to make sure that everything is checked and double-checked, from the visa to the travel documents, and making sure that your loose ends are tied up. But there are other considerations you need to understand to guarantee that you are able to move to another country and live somewhere else securely and happily. What are the things you need to consider?
Make Sure You Can Cover All the Upfront Costs
The initial few months can be incredibly expensive. It’s not just about getting the movers ready, as well as the security deposit for your first and, sometimes, the second month of rent, you also need to make sure that you can actually write a cheque from your home bank account, or if you can actually pay these upfront costs. It’s also important to ensure you have enough savings to cover all these upfront costs, so you don’t have to live off cheap noodles until you get your first paycheck. Additionally, think about the utilities. Electricity, water, the internet, and water are all so crucial to ensuring you can navigate those first couple of months without feeling incredibly poor, which can take the shine off moving to somewhere new.
Making Friends Is Difficult
It’s important for us to find new places and new people in every part of life, and when we are in school, we are all in the same situation together, but when you are in the big wide world and you are trying to make friends all over again, it’s much more difficult meeting people in a new location and in a whole different context. But there are things you can do, including the following.
- Join an online ex-pat group. This is one of the best ways for you to find other people who are in the same situation as you a few years, or even a few months ago. They will usually organise the gatherings and it’s a wonderful way to talk to people from your home country.
- Try online friends. You can do a quick search for people who are writing about your local area and ask them if they want to meet up for a coffee.
- Join a class. Make sure you take a class involving something that you are passionate about because this means you will meet people with the same interests as you.
Take Your Time to Master the Culture
You will be the foreigner, and there is no way of getting out of this, but it’s important to exercise common courtesy, while also understanding some of the basic etiquette. You could very easily offend locals if you don’t know the rules. The things that are normal to you can be offensive, even something as simple as eating food with your left hand! You will experience culture shock, but it’s okay.
You can experience a wide variety of emotions going to another country, but it can be the best thing you will have ever done, just as long as you remember that you take your time and ease into it.
