Living Abroad is Hard (what I've learned)

Learn & practise languages on italki by signing up for free today:

[germainmorin]

Born, raised and still living in Canada (Québec), I felt most at ease - and myself! - in the nordic countries, especially Norway and Finland. Minimal and direct communication, huge personal bubble, extreme punctuality, efficiency in most things, yet people are very laid back about work & leisure. On the other hand, I really loved Ireland for its joie-de-vivre and the way they make you feel welcome (in general).

[vviolet]

After living in the Netherlands for a while, I've accidentally offended my family members (in the US) several times when I thought I was just talking normally... the directness doesn't translate well haha

[nicopaolo]

Diversifying experiences seem to have this “push - pull” affect to me.

The more exposure you get to a range of different ideas, cultures, etc. The more you’re able to see patterns of behaviors and values that you can leave or adopt and in a lot of ways you start cracking the code of “you”

But on the flip side it can also feel alienating at times too, because while you connect to pieces of various cultures it can also feel like you don’t have a home in any of them as well

[izzydemattos]

I’m studying abroad in France right now and my French friend described French people like coconuts bc they are tough on the surface but once you get close to them they are sweet and super loyal. And Americans are avocados bc they are nice to everyone but it’s hard to get close to them.

[MishaElRusito]

02:44 THIS! literally cured my nervosis/depression when I moved from Russia to Mexico. In Russia i was constantly stressed over little things (including being on time) and in Mexico - nobody gets angry about that lol In a few months almost all my stress went away and I started to LIVE.

[jcfontech]

I left México for a job in the U.S. and I'm still unsure about whether or not I made the right decision. I miss my culture, the people and the food, but on the other hand I'm grateful for the opportunity to be doing something I actually enjoy and getting paid decently well for it. I guess there's never really a life choice with no sort of compromise, and we just have to keep going and make the most out of it.

Thanks for always sharing so authentic and relatable content, Nathan. Has helped me a lot.

[Ellary_Rosewood]

After I left the U.S. and was living in México, I was amazed at how much more relaxed and less stressed/anxious I felt, even though it was my first time living in another country for the first time, and also being a solo female who didn't really know anyone there. I went from having almost daily panic attacks, to not having a single one (until I went back to the U.S.) in my entire time living there. Even though I still always like to be on time and don't think I'll ever lose that, I didn't feel that certain stress towards HAVING to be on time everywhere. I also laughed so hard when you were talking about asking directions in México, since I basically just had to figure things out myself, which was a challenge in itself.

I'm now living in the beautiful country of Georgia 🇬🇪 and after moving straight from Mexico to here... Wow... what a HUGE change of culture and a completely different way of living and communicating. It was quite the culture shock and took me a while to get used to it, but I honestly feel so at home now and love my life here. While it's been hard getting used to the more direct approach towards communication, as well as not receiving smiles of acknowledgement or "hellos" on the street wherever I go, I often find myself grateful for it now. Things are straightforward and to the point. As a pretty extreme introvert, I feel much more comfortable with life here and I don't feel forced to be as social as I felt I had to be in México (even though both have their ups and downs of course).

[anon]

Honestly living abroad has made me miss the "best friends" things in America. Like I enjoy when someone wants to tell me their whole life immediately because it's so much easier to meet people and i understand if they disappear later. but at least i got to see their whole self for the brief time that i knew them :)

[MedicalEnglishMel]

I always say that I learn more about my culture when I’m immersed in another than I ever would back home. I remember when I first started traveling I thought I identified more with the European way of doing things. Then I fell in love with a madrileño and moved to Madrid. I soon realized, “holy sh*t I am so American.” 😳 I learned so much about Spanish culture, but equally as much (if not more) about myself and my own upbringing.

[naive_person]

Your story of France going straight up "No 😌✋" to everything reminds me so much of Damon Dominique's struggle to do ANYTHING 😂😂 getting his door fixed, figuring out his visa, getting internet for his newest place

[lynda.grace.]

What living elsewhere has prompted me to do is to choose which of my traits and cultural values I will not compromise in spite of how things are done elsewhere. First, that means I treat all people I meet as equals who have value. I acknowledge them and express my gratitude for their services to me. Always. Second, I watch more closely, listen more carefully and refrain from quick judgements of the situation which, of course, will largely be based on my cultural standards. I leave room for other interpretations of the circumstances.

For example, one morning I stepped into a small hotel elevator in Japan and the six men in it shifted to the back and turned their faces away from me. If I hadn't understood that they were giving me the gift of space and greater privacy in a confined environment, I could have misread the behaviour and been very upset about being treated like a social leper.

[PauZabaletaLlauger]

in my experience, living now in Oaxaca, México, and being from Barcelona I have come to realise that some people live more in the present in Mexico not because there is an idea of living in the present and stop worrying about what's to come but because there is no other option when you basically have enough to survive each day. And the cop reference when it comes to traffic I have also encountered and I would say it has more to do with corruption and not being really inspired to do your job. I have met many people really not helpful when you go to a shop for instance but now I realise that the wages, at least in Oaxaca are so extremely low and the job conditions so painfully abusive that why should they care about their job at all? It is indeed a very complex thing to understant and I am still trying, but I would say economics, politics, corruption and a lack of oportunities play a huge role.

[ekaterinamolokanova]

That's interesting how living abroad feels when you can't go back home. I'm from Kyiv, Ukraine and used to wonder what living abroad could be like as I wanted to have such an experience. Now having moved to Poland I'd say that of course, there may be some difficulties everywhere due to culture differences, trying to learn new language etc., but if you are safe both physically and economically, you can deal with everything else. One of the reasons being - you just can't move home. Sometimes lack of choice (and thus - not overthinking everything) makes things easier and yourself - stronger and more adaptive. That's something I haven't thought about earlier

[MishaElRusito]

Nathaniel, imo it's your best video that you've done! I didn't skip a minute :)

[MarekLumi]

There is a book exploring the topic of cultural differences called The Culture Map, really recommend checking it out

[shonna_]

I moved from Vancouver, Canada to Cambodia and felt such a burden lifted from my shoulders -- less pressure to maintain an image (clothing, appearance, ambition), literally more ease in my body from the warmer weather, a more relaxed approach to life, friendlier more approachable locals and foreign residents, and it was interesting to be awake while my Canadian friends and family were asleep -- I felt like this gave me a lot of spaciousness and time to focus on my projects without distraction. I also feel like being away from my friends and family helped me to focus more on the life I want rather than the social pressure to to like make babies, buy a house, have a certain kind of career. Great video, Nathaniel!

[SummerJones]

I laughed a little to hard at “The go to answer in France is no.” Nothing can prepare you for the French no as an American in Paris. Loved this video 💛

[beardedpanda]

Im from the US and in my time living in Japan (I’m a quarter Japanese and grew up with the culture) and Germany and spending significant amount of time in Egypt,
I’ve noticed I go through three stages whenever I live somewhere.

Honeymoon stage
Culture shock and rude awakening acceptance stage
And the lastly the itch to move on

It’s hard adjusting where ever you go, but it opens up your eyes so much living abroad.

[SunnyKindJourney]

It's crazy how much you can learn about life when you travel and go deep in other cultures, get to know locals and find what they value in life 🌍

[mahivivazqueztarducci]

This video should have been called "living abroad is awesome"!!! As an Argentinian who has family in Italy and lives in the UK, I relate so much and I agree with all the observations!