When I was preparing to move to France, people often said to me “That’s so exciting! I am really jealous you’re moving there, except there is no way I could ever go that far away from home.” When people say this, what they are really saying is “I’m too scared/unsure/nervous to move away”. While these are completely valid fears, they’re not reasons to avoid a new life experience. Here’s the good, the bad and the different experiences about living abroad—and why you don’t need to be scared of it!

The Good:

1. The travel: moving somewhere new means that you will necessarily explore your unfamiliar surroundings. Travel could mean that you’re visiting multiple new cities or countries, or travel could mean you’re visiting the next town over, but either way, you will be opening yourself to cultures and experiences different from those you left behind.
   
2. The people: every time I’ve moved, one of the most interesting parts of creating my new life has been meeting people and making new friends. While this may seem like an obvious thing to say, people are so different in every place, whether that be a different country, or a city a few states away. In fact, I went to school in Texas and found the lifestyle to be quite different from New Hampshire even though they’re both in the same country! This difference is even more pronounced when you move abroad and meet people with different home countries and mother tongues to you. These differences are positive because they open you up to new ways of thinking about and experiencing life.
   
3. The language: moving can be the best way to learn a language or to practice the language skills you’ve been cultivating. There is no better way to pick up a language than by living immersed in that language. If you can live abroad in a non-English speaking place, permanently or temporarily, you’ll likely see your language skills improve.
   

The Bad:

1. Bureaucracy: The bureaucratic hoops that you will jump through, both in your home country and in your new country, in order to move, are admittedly frustrating. Unfortunately, bureaucracy and the annoyances that come along with it are present and necessary no matter where you live. What can be difficult is learning how a new country’s system works, even more so if the whole process is in a foreign language. Thankfully, there are many resources to help with this, including Facebook groups for expats, blogs and online “how-to” lists. Bureaucracy is annoying, but it’s no reason to avoid something new.
   
2. Being far away from family and friends: moving abroad generally means that you are leaving your support network behind. Your family and friends cannot come with you, and this can make many people panic and decide that the move is too far or too difficult to do. Here’s the upside: we live in a technologically connected world. We are no longer in the era where people had to send letters and wait for them to cross the ocean by ship in order to communicate. You can stay in constant contact with loved ones via your cell phone and the internet. Your support system will not disappear, and you will also meet new people and eventually create a network of friends in your new home.

The Difficult:

1. Language Barrier: sometimes you will have no idea what people are saying to you. This is okay. But this is very difficult to come to terms with. The more time you spend learning the language of your new home, the more you will understand, and the language will feel like less of a barrier and more as a door into a new culture.
   
2. Culture Shock: the different stores, the different food, the different lifestyles, the different ways of commuting and maybe even driving on the other side of the road—all of these will inspire “culture shock” in you. The great news is that culture shock is like a wave—if you ride it out, it will cease, and you will feel at home. Embrace feeling a little out of your depth for a while, this is normal.
   
3. Getting over FOMO from home: if you suffer from FOMO: Fear of Missing Out, then you may use this as a reason not to broaden your horizons and live abroad. “But I’ll miss the nights out with my friends, parties with my family, celebrations at my church, and more. I can’t move, because I can’t miss out on these things!”. I only have one response to this: who cares? Life is bigger than one place, life is bigger than worrying about missing out on one night out. Once again, in our extraordinarily connected society, you can still be present for the really important things, be it physically, by taking a flight home, or virtually, through video chat. Living abroad doesn’t have to be permanent—you could go just for a few months or a couple of years and still benefit from the experience.

Now that you know what to expect from living abroad, which has hopefully assuaged your fears a bit, what’s stopping you from going? Find a study abroad program, find a language school, find an internship, a job exchange, or find a time you can take off for a while on holiday, and go experience a new place. You won’t regret it!

À bientôt!

Shannon