How to Feel More Comfortable Abroad
Are you struggling to make your new country feel like home? You are not alone. It’s never an easy feat to create a new life abroad. But you’re in the right place!
I lived abroad for 7 years in Angola and Argentina and I’m sharing a few things you can do to help make your new country feel more like home.
Even if you’re only planning to live in your new country temporarily or for a short amount of time, it is still important for you to feel at home and confident abroad.
Planning to move abroad? Download this packing checklist I created that includes everything you’ll need to make your new country feel like home!
Here are some actions you can take to make that happen!
Decorate Your Living Space
This is so important to feeling like you’re at home. If you don’t put pictures or paintings up on your walls because you know you’re leaving in a few years...you will constantly be reminded that you’ll be leaving and that will make it hard for you to put roots down, assimilate and make connections in your expat country.
If you’re waiting on your company’s shipment, use what you have. I suggest taking small things with you on the plane, such as framed photos you can place around the house. If you aren’t able to bring anything in your suitcase, do some light shopping and find beautiful things to put in your home while you wait for your goods shipment to arrive.
The fun really starts when your sea shipment arrives. It’s probably one of the most exciting days of expat life so much so that it can feel like Christmas! Now you can use all your own things to make your house feel like home.
If you aren’t taking a goods shipment with you, you can still decorate your living space with things from your new country! Go shopping for items that remind you of home or that really speak to you. Over time, your decorations will grow as you create more memories abroad.
Create a Routine
You need a new routine for your new country. Routines make you feel like you belong where you are. They help ground you and keep things constant in your life. I found when I first moved to countries I would flounder a lot more than I wanted. It wasn’t until I created a weekly routine for myself that I began to feel better.
In Angola, my routine (when I wasn’t working) consisted of grocery shopping on Mondays and Fridays, working out with friends on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and a card game/potluck with friends on Thursdays. These might sound like little things but having something I consistently did each week helped fill in the negative void that was created when I left my job and moved to a new country.
Maybe for you it’s going to a new restaurant one night each week. Or picking up a cup of coffee at the same cafe each morning.
A morning routine has also always helped me feel more grounded too. I’ve noticed over the past 4 years that when I have a consistent morning routine I have less anxiety and feel better throughout the day. If you’re interested in learning more about my morning routine, let me know in the comments.
I believe creating a routine is especially important if you’re an accompanying spouse that is new to not working outside the home. I struggled hard with not working overseas. When I finally got into my own weekly routine, I started to feel more confident with my decision.
Find Your Favorites
Find a favorite coffee shop, flower shop, meat shop, park bench or favorite clothing store to shop in. This will make your new country feel more like home. When you go to the same places over and over again, you build up a familiarity and you will begin to feel like those places are “yours” and you’ll feel less like a visitor in your country.
Really, this is where the fun begins. In order to find your favorites, you have to try lots of places, right? So maybe you enjoy tea in the morning - go find a few tea places to try until you find the best! Or want to find a weekend brunch place? You get to try out a few before picking your favorite.
And once you have your favorite picked out and you continuously return to that place it will begin to feel like home. The employees there may even get to know your name!
For me, parks felt this way in Buenos Aires. Andrew and I found a few parks we really enjoyed - one for letting the dogs off leash, one for jogging and another to walk around at night. Going back to the same parks week after week made them familiar to us - almost like they were ours.
You’ll feel this way too once you find your favorites.
Find Similarities with Your Old Home
What were your favorite activities to do back home? Was it going for a weekend coffee? Or taking your kids for ice cream on Saturdays? Or ordering pizza on Friday nights?
Good, now find places you can do those same activities in your new country.
For Andrew and I, we enjoyed doing Netflix afternoons on the weekend in Angola and we continued that tradition in Buenos Aires. We would order food in and enjoy a few hours of tv. This made us feel like we were back home. And sometimes after a long week abroad that’s exactly what you need!
We also enjoyed going to Starbucks on the weekends. Starbucks felt familiar to us. From their food and drinks to the furniture to the music playing. It all felt exactly like home. Of course they had some unique foods like pan de queso (which I usually ate!). But if I was feeling nostalgic for home I could order a blueberry muffin and sit and read while American soft rock played in the background.
Over time, you’ll adopt new traditions, however reliving these habits from your home country initially will help you feel more comfortable abroad. And it may also help with any feelings of homesickness.
When you first arrive in a new country things can feel uncertain at times. You’ll be excited and ready to soak in your new culture but you may also be missing home or feeling anxious about your decision to move abroad.
I understand what you’re going through. I’ve been there a few times myself. Hang in there because I know from personal experience things will get better and you will grow more confident in your new country. I’m rooting for you!
Tell me in the comments how you’re going to make your new country feel like home!
If you’re living abroad now or plan to, check out this blog about what to do when living abroad gets hard.
