Is it difficult to live abroad?

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Is it difficult to live abroad?

 This post can be reduced by answering the question: Is it difficult to live outside your home country? The answer immediately given by the vast majority of nomads would be: yes, it is very difficult. With that, we could end this post. However, the title of this post probes the question of how difficult it is to live abroad. To answer this question we would also need to know how long you want to live abroad. It is also important to look at how different the country you will be in is from your roots.

I will start by describing the three types of people who in my perception live abroad. I’ll associate it with that initial fear of entering a swimming pool when you don’t know how cold the water is.

 1- This is the person who decides not to go into the water and decides to enjoy the sun from his or her chair.

 2- He is the one who wants to go in but stays on the shore. He puts his feet in and maybe gets his face gone a couple of times.

 3- It is the one who decides to jump in immediately no matter how cold it is.

 For these three types of people, it is quite complicated to immerse themselves in a new culture and see it from a different perspective. None of them knows what to expect. When you live abroad your life starts from zero. Nothing goes back to the way it was before. Depending on your destination, everything you are used to will change. The food will change, the streets you’ve known for years, your friends, the language. The currency changes, the customs, the people you see, the climate. Everything changes and your tolerance will quickly show its abilities. This is where that dip will play a very important role. It will certainly determine how sunny your stay will be. You and you alone will be in charge of removing those dark clouds that overshadow the shining sun that will fill us with happiness.

  • How was the change?

 – Change is precisely what I find most interesting in this whole process. When we grow up we are submerged in waters from which it is difficult to get out. Cultural behaviours are accepted by society as a whole to which we are indirectly subjected. Change is that moment for oneself to find oneself and shape one’s aptitudes or virtues. Time to start caring about who you are. This is a perfect time for people to hone their identity and autonomy. This is the time when many people find that self-confidence they didn’t have before. Obviously from your country, you can do it but let’s say this experience accelerates it a little bit, depending on your level of acceptance.

  • Tell me more about the swimmers…

 – All 3 types of people will enjoy their experience in some way. Many find friends from their own country. Many find the food they used to eat. Others fall in love with another cuisine and decide to adopt it as their own. Others find the sports or hobbies they used to do, which creates positive transitions in those days. No doubt finding an activity associated with your personality in another country will help give you confidence. If possible with native speakers

  • Number one

 – They live abroad but rarely decide to introduce new lifestyles into their daily lives. They thoroughly enjoy being with people from the same background, eating the same food they used to eat at home and having the same habits they had in their hometown. This type of person tends not to endure being away from home for long, they constantly miss their friends, family and these habits prevent the experience in front of them from becoming pleasurable. I have met several Asians or Indians who belong to this group. Their family ties are so strong that they need to be constantly nurtured. Many Latinos are not left behind. We are in a way very dependent on many things in our cities and this is one of the factors that affect us the most in the first days of our stay.

  • Our friend number two

 – Tends to be more curious around water. He goes into the pool for a few minutes and comes out again to be with his friends. He is the intro-extrovert type of person for cultures. He likes to walk alone in the streets of this new city but also enjoys walking with a couple of compatriots. He is the one who tries to learn the language of the country, makes an effort to do so and although the results are slow he enjoys the experience. This person sometimes debates internally between staying all day immersed in that new world or returning to his or her hometown. This is perhaps the case that happens to all of us who migrate to other countries. Many Latinos fall into this category. It is difficult to detach completely. Our friend number two

  • The third

 – It needs no explanation. You will already know. It is not difficult for him to live abroad (in most cases). He is restless for new cultures, languages, people, food etc. He enjoys being with people he knows in his own country and enjoys being with people from other countries. He learns new languages to be able to interact more easily and enjoys the challenges that a change in his life imposes on him. He dives headfirst into that pool waiting for his body to slowly settle to the required temperature and then he enjoys a new experience in his life.

Now: Is it difficult to live abroad?

 This answer is up to the individual. People number 1 tend to constantly criticise everything new they experience and they don’t like practically anything they are experiencing. They hate the fact that the train passes every 4 minutes because in their country it used to pass every 15 minutes. While number 2 continues to struggle hard to improve their experience, number 3 will talk mostly positively about the experience they are having or give you criticism with very real arguments about how viable your life in that country can be.

  • Watch out for advice.

 – So when asking for advice about an experience, make sure you know how that source developed their project. I am one of those who believe that there are no bad or bad experiences. Every experience with new people, places, situations, no matter how bad they are, will always have something new and positive to contribute to our lives. What happened to me in Colombia.

 Before coming to Berlin I met 2 friends who were in Germany and they swore to me that it was the worst experience of their lives. For them, it was very difficult to live abroad. They told me not to come. One of them didn’t even finish his studies and went back to Colombia 9 months after coming. His investment was lost and he went back to Medellín to work in his grandmother’s company. The story of the other was similar. They made me hesitate a little bit but my plans remained firm. After almost 3 years in Germany, I can understand very well what he was telling me and how he developed his experience. All of this I later associated with the stories he told me or why he was unhappy in Germany.

 If you have never lived abroad before, you probably don’t know which group you belong to, but if you want to get the most out of your experience, try as much as possible to belong to group 2 or 3. Instead of criticising sudden changes to your culture with your new surroundings, start by admiring how different we all are.

 It is not easy to cope with change but patience, tolerance and a lot of discipline will create a perfect zone to openly welcome such a big challenge in our lives.

  • Dessert

 – Several websites will help you search for activities in new countries related to your tastes.

 This page is like a Facebook of infinite events. You find endless activities every day related to hobbies worldwide. A user creates an event, people visit a calendar and anyone can attend (in most cases). You find for example football matches, painting groups, salsa classes, rumbas, yoga, book clubs, language exchanges etc.

 Couchsurfing is somewhat similar to Meetup with the variant that Couchsurfing is a platform for “couch surfing”. As the name says, it is a platform to find a couch in a new home. People offer to sleep with travellers and at no cost this person spends the night at the home of this new friend. At the same time, the site has an events section. The same thing happens there as with Meetup.

  • Facebook

 En cada ciudad siempre hay muchos interesantes grupos de Facebook . Busca algo que te guste y a continuación busca un grupo relacionado con tus preferencias. Sin duda harán que no sea tan dificil vivir en el extranjero.

 I hope you liked the post. Comment if you find it difficult to live abroad Like the group on Facebook and share it on your social networks.

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