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Moving abroad creates a variety of emotions; excitement, curiosity, fear, joy etc, all at the same time! But with these top life hacks hopefully we can eliminate some of these negative emotions. From living in a variety of countries around the world I have devised my 5 top life hacks for living in a foreign country.
Moving abroad can be daunting, especially if you don’t know anyone. These top 5 life hacks will help you settle in to your new country and get to know the place a bit better.
My number one tip has to be to make friends with the locals!!! As well as being my number one tip it can also be quite a challenging one. It’s easier to integrate with individuals in the same situation as yourself who are new to living abroad. But remember the local people know all the best places for sight seeing, food, nightlife etc. So worth getting to know a few, and who knows you might even really like them!
This is something that took me a while to do, I can be quite lazy so Ubers and public transport is a regular occurrence for me. The main problem with this is you don’t get a good bearing for your new city and where everything is. As well as being good exercise by simply walking I got to know the place pretty well and managed to find some really cool places on the way. This leads me to my next point…..
Google map saved my life on so many occasions! My sense of direction is awful and I can’t even calculate the many hours I’ve spent starring at the blue google map dot showing my location to get around. The other great thing is you can downloads areas also on google maps so you don’t even have to use WiFi.
A really really important tip is to learn the basics of their language! People will appreciate the fact you are trying, even if you are pronouncing it wrong. Knowing simply how to communicate at the supermarket will save you a lot of time and confusion. Cultural differences can also get you into a bit of a pickle. For example tipping is compulsory in some countries and you may get a nasty look or 2 if that’s something you don’t act on.
There is nothing worse than being ill abroad! It isn’t scientifically proven yet BUT it definitely makes you fell 37 times worse. The effort of using international doctors is also a lot of effort and as previously mentioned I’m lazy so don’t have time for that! As well as eating healthy take precaution, even if you have insurance you aren’t always covered. On line 1,023 in the tiny print that no one can read will mention something about what you aren’t covered for. I unfortunately had to find out the hard way after knocking out my front teeth out that I was not in fact covered and dentists in Canada are also coincidentally really expensive.
