/ot/ - off-topic

I don't think enough people have done this/are planning to do it to warrant its own thread. At least from what I understand, cause to me 'moving abroad' implies permanent emigration, but I've seen a lot of younger people say they've "lived abroad" for 6 months or "moved abroad" (to do their Master's) when that's just… idk, a long holiday to me.

>>198221
I think after a more than a year that counts as "moving abroad". You don't have to commit to a place permanently to move there.

I agree though a 6 month study abroad is just an extended stay.

>>198221
Despite the fact that I am someone who's done this, I kind of agree with this sentiment. Guess we'll see if we're both proven wrong if more people respond?

>>198220
I didn't start 100% alone as I moved with my SO abroad one year ago and we had been planning to move for years. For us, the most challenging thing was finding a flat because it's dangerous (financially) to move site unseen to a place and most places here don't want to rent to people who aren't physically present. We did a lot of airbnb hopping before we found a place.

My advice is to save up as much money as you can before you move, learn the language as best you can if it's different than your native language, and make finding a job/flat your primary objectives when you get there. I know, that sounds like no-brainer advice, but tons of people who came over around the same time as us were totally clueless and it amazed me that people could pack up and move thousands of miles away from home without thinking soundly.

I'm moving to the UK soon and I'm shitting my pants. It's so different compared to where I grew up in every single way. Any UK anons here?

>>198780
Hey anon, me too! Where are you coming from? I'm from California (so not that culturally different, but will be my first time even being in Europe).

>>198364
Where did you move abroad anon? How do you like it?

>>198220
I've lived abroad 3 times. The first time was only 6 months, so as >>198221 said, it's not really living abroad, but a lot of people call it that, so I just go with the flow. After that I spent over 2 years abroad in 2 different countries (around 1 year each).

I'll be in the U.K. for up to 1.5 years for graduate school (I consider this living abroad because it's plenty of time to adjust to where you are living). I miiiight leave earlier than even 1 year though, if I can finish my program somewhere else (that's what I want to do).

After/a couple months before graduating, I'm going to job-hunt throughout Asia. I'd love to live somewhere in China, Taiwan, Singapore, or Hong Kong although I'm pretty open-minded (studied Japanese 5 years so will apply for jobs throughout Japan too, and also places like Malaysia and maybe Vietnam).

Once I land a job in Asia, I'm planning to immigrate permanently and settle down (marry, maybe have a kid).

I moved abroad for four years to do my undergraduate (UK 3 years, Norway 1 year), then moved abroad again to marry my now-husband (Norway). But mine's a bit different than moving abroad just because I want to move abroad.

But yea uhh basically just make sure you're on top of your residence paperwork and be prepared to wait some time to get everything sorted out in your new country. I don't really get homesick or have trouble adjusting, but both places I've moved have been more similar than not to my home country of America. Approach everything with a sense of humor and an open mind and you'll be fine.

>>198800
I'm planning on doing the reverse and moving from Europe to the US soon enough. I plan on trying for the green card lottery and find a job that'd sponsor me at the same time.

The only thing stressing me out though is not having a driving licence yet, as I never needed one where I live and it's extremely expensive to get here.

>>198782
I'm coming from North Africa, so entirely different. I've been told I'm westernized enough to settle in easily and I have plenty of friends there, but I still think the first few weeks will be hard because of culture shock. You seem to move around a lot, that's so cool! Do you ever get homesick?

I have a long term goal of moving to Australia from the U.S. (like when I'm 30 or so.) Any Aussie anons here? Is this a wise decision? I'll have my degree by then and hopefully some good job experience. No, I don't own any guns or care about owning them. No, I'm not religious or conservative. Yes, I'm used to living somewhere extremely hot and humid with basically only two seasons (really hot and kind of cold.)

>>198782
I moved from the U.S. to the Czech Republic, and I love it. The culture is pretty different (naturally!) but I've loved learning about it firsthand and picking up the language. Plus it's beautiful out here, and I love experiencing seasons/holidays in a different country.

The only thing I'm still struggling with, even after a year, is breaking out of the expat bubble.

I'm hoping to move from the UK to Canada in the next few years, I'm currently working on saving up for the move and making sure I have a good amount of work experience so I'll look more attractive to employers.

I'm nervous about the idea of moving, I have a big very close family here in the UK and going so far away from that I think will be the most difficult thing but I also love the idea of moving so I'm not going to let that stop me from going.

>>200540
I don't see why it would be unwise, we have a good standard of living, high wages and no particular grudge against americans. Our property market is pretty dire though.

>>200540
I live in Australia, I think it's pretty good. We have decent healthcare, education and our police don't usually shoot people immediately.

>>200581
>Our property market is pretty dire though.

Yeah, that's the thing I'm mostly concerned with. Otherwise, I think your country is a great place to live!

>>200582
All reasons I would love to pack up and move today if I could. The political discourse here is honestly starting to be too much for me. Every day, Trump is fucking up or someone else in government is. I have a young child and certainly don't want to put him through our shit public educational system.

i recently moved to Quebec… and my french is shit.
Some people are nice about it when I go out, however it's really hard for working because many refuse to speak english to me (fair enough)

those who moved to countries with language barriers, whats the best way to learn a new language?

>>200595
Where do you live, Montreal?
I went to Quebec for a month and made a decent amount of progress because I was only allowed to speak French to people. I made sure to listen to French music, watch French movies, etc. Just keep surrounding yourself in French, and keep the English to a minimum. It'll get exhausting, but you'll make very fast progress that way.
I found that when I was in Quebec, people could hear my Canadian-English accent while speaking French, but they were still nice to me, even if I sounded slow and stupid, haha.

>>200595
I moved to Finland from Northern Ireland, God help me. I've learnt enough to qualify for citizenship but I absolutely cannot even dream of taking part in a normal conversation, I can understand a lot of things and express myself okay when I'm not prompted to talk about specific subjects but it stops there. I don't think I'll ever reach fluency, I'm too old and it's too useless for me to even entertain the idea of bothering to learn it properly.
Once I get the passport I'm fucking off to the UK with my bf, I only needed it for visa-free travel anyway.

I think the best way to learn a new language would be to slowly dip your toes in and gradually increase your exposure to more complex topics as you go, but for some languages it's just too bloody difficult. Everyone here speaks English to varying degrees of success, I've had to Americanise my accent quite a bit in order for people to understand me in the first place, most people just don't have the patience to listen to my Tarzanese Finnish and straight up refuse to talk to me in anything but shitty English so I can't really practise with anyone. I've heard the same from people who live in Sweden. Unfortunately I'm 2poortherner for lessons so it can't be helped.

>>200595
I've been using apps and talking to friends who are native speakers of the language here. I'm going to get a tutor soon, but so far I've just done self study. It's good to practice everyday, but I can only do a little bit at a time before I feel burnt out.

I know it's common advice, but I've found that watching films helps. Most movies here are in English with the native language subtitles, so it's nice to recognize verbs I already know and pick up some new vocabulary.

Ever since i moved abroad i'm depressed as fuck. I moved after college, i have a stable job and a solid income but i miss my family and friends every day. It's very hard for me to make new friends because i miss my old ones. It just feels like my life is going nowhere at this point.

Anyone in the same situation?

>>202581
not in the same situation but i've heard that's very common. people assume homesickness when you go abroad is just missing your loved ones at first like you would if you left for college for the first time or soemthing, but it seems like it's a phenomenon that can happen to people who didn't like where they came from or who have lived in their new country for years. it almost seems like a form of depression

I'm engaged to an English guy (I'm American) and the distance has been really hard since the last time we saw each other. I want to move in together, but it's scary and daunting.

I'm still in school for an AS/certs but he's employed. I'm worried about leaving because I want to be able to work in this field and don't know if I'll be able to continue my education until I'm a citizen because of money. My family is also really close knit and my grandfather has cancer, so it may be difficult for me to leave. On the other hand, he's worried about finding work and a place to live here because it's expensive. He also has a lot of stuff and if we had to live at my parents' house, I'm not sure he'd want to/be able to do it without space to himself away from the noise. The immigration process can be confusing or seem long too.

He kept asking me to visit him this week on a whim last night because he misses me so much, even though we both know it'd be difficult if not impossible for me to pack up and go visit like that. It's been tempting to drop my classes this semester and visit for a while, or hell, get married and move out, but something like that seems drastic or impossible.

idk if this is more suited to the relationship thread because this is heavily based in one, but I need advice on what to do to actually get things moving. We really love each other and being separated hurts.

>>202667
It'll be much easier for him to move stateside than the other way around. Since he's employed he should be the one to make the visit since he has more disposable income and no dependant relatives. From the way he asked you to just hop on a plane on a whim, money doesn't seem to be an issue for him.

>>202614
That's because people think moving abroad will magically cure their depression, so many do just that. At first it seems great, but then they revert back to their old ways when the novelty wears off and they realise they'll have to start all over again from zero.

Lots of people from relatively wealthy countries like America move abroad and then proceed to mope and complain when they see that they'll never be welcomed as locals and that people in their host country have wildly differing opinions. Then they turn to their ~expat~ (never immigrant of course, that would make them the same as the 'great unwashed', and not the entitled manchildren on a ~cultural trip~ that they are) circles and bitch about narrow doorframes or whatever it is they think should be made the same as in America. Then they pack up and leave and write angry blog posts on the Internet because Europe wasn't their very own personal fun fair like they thought it'd be.

>>202671
whew. i know what kind of person you're talking about, i've been on the asia expat subreddits, but i was talking about the phenomenon that even people coming from wartorn countries to a better life can experience. it's a thing. it sounds like anon's life really has improved after moving but she's experiencing this homesickness anyway. maybe moving to a totally different environment and culture can overwhelm and confuse your system and lead to depression, despite your circumstances now or in your home country.

>>202668
I've thought that and he's looked into jobs/housing over here.

I think he's concerned about the political situation here as well as the cost of living, plus he doesn't have a college degree. He did A-levels and an apprenticeship, has certs, I'm biased, but he's a qualified guy for his field. I just don't know how that'll translate to the US job market with how bad it is.

He doesn't make a ton of $$$ but does live at home and as such has plenty of disposable income; however, he makes a lot of it selling stuff on eBay. He's got so much stuff that moving it to the US will be really difficult. At the same time we've both talked about not having to settle permanently in one country right now and can move later so…

>>202687
Well, he can always visit you for a few weeks, don't see why he'd have to move right away, it's not really a death sentence though is it

I've lived in Belgium, Netherlands, Poland as a foreigner.

Pros:
- Life is more interesting when you're moving around. One good way to get to 50 years old and wonder where all the time has gone is to slip into a routine in your hometown and do fuck all for your entire life.
- Everyone will be interested in you simply due to your nationality. You'll usually be considered more attractive too.
- Everything is different, and if you're interested in new languages, foods, etc… You'll have a fun time discovering new stuff.

Cons:
- The major one is don't move far from home to try to escape yourself. I've known many people who have done something along those lines, and it never works.
- Even if everything is different, everything is still all the same. People are just people wherever you go and you'll still experience all the petty drama and bullshit you get back home. Maybe this one sounds obvious, but there are people with strange ideas of foreign countries and the people who live in them.
- Work is hard to find if you don't know the local language. Harder than you think, even for shitty factory jobs you still need the local language. And unless you have a specific interest in it, learning a language is a huge boring grind.

>>200595
Don't depend too much on other people. You don't magically pick up a language just because you live there. You do learn some new things easily such as the food labels at the supermarket, but on the whole, you're gonna be on your own.

General rule is to study every day for as long as you can. And when you're sick of it, keep studying anyway. One hour per day should be absolute minimum. Don't rely on a class to teach you. If you do go to a class, that should be used as a time to clarify what you've already learnt. Just keep doing it and doing it, and when you get to the point where you can start reading random sentences and understanding simple conversations, you're past the worst point.

>>202581
I was depressed before I moved abroad (was treating it) and I'm still depressed haha. But I feel a little less depressed because I'm working at a job that I enjoy and that has a supportive environmental and I've had some awesome experiences this last year. I also miss my friends and family, but I came with my SO and have made friends here so I don't feel lonely.