Whether it is to study, work or to simply find yourself; being an expat can be challenging at the beginning but will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.
In addition, travelling and exploring new things helps you to grow and open your mind. The whole experience will be valuable for life and will change you in so many ways.
1. You do not worry about communication difficulties anymore. You just face the challenge with excitement.
Living abroad will expose you to so many new experiences and it will also reveal a completely new way of life and way of dealing with challenges along the way. It’s one thing to have to communicate across languages, but the challenge of communicating across cultures is even bigger. But a challenge that you will embrace and find empowering as you break through this barrier.
2. You do not hesitate to get in touch with locals.
Getting in touch with locals is one of the most effective ways to quickly learn about the culture of your new country. In most cases, you will discover that locals are pleased to welcome you into their world and will teach and show you things that no guidebook would ever be able to.
3. You do not judge and constantly compare with your home culture.
Living overseas and dealing with all sorts of challenges is bound to put life into perspective. You will learn to appreciate the small things in life and to do without technology and the latest fashion. You will let go of the materialistic things and the ways of your life back at home.
4. You are open-minded and eager to learn more about different cultures.
It is common for expats to struggle with all these new, and seemingly strange flavours and traditions of their host country. However, once you stop comparing all these new experiences to your memories of your home country. The faster you start embracing the new aspects, the quicker you will enjoy all these new discoveries. This is key to settling abroad and being happy.
5. You learn your new country’s language much faster than the languages you were taught in school.
Being thrown in at the deep end and being forced to speak a language, is the best and most efficient way to learn a new language. You can do endless language classes but the quickest way to improve is to just start speaking!
6.You will appreciate the real value of friendships.
When you’re living in a foreign country on your own, the support you receive from others will be even more significant. Seeing as you don’t have your family and friends there to help you when the going gets tough, making new friends will be so valuable and you will value these relationships even more. Generally speaking, you will find that fellow expats and locals will welcome you into their community. You will quickly feel connected to people that you’ve only known for a few days, simply due to the circumstances and open-mindedness of expats.
7. You find all those different traditions, behaviors, and attitudes less awkward, but rather interesting.
One of the most valuable skills, you will gain from living abroad and becoming an expat, is the ability to let go of conforming to the norms. Being able to just live in the moment and to stop being uptight and to worry about the small things. You will view all these new traditions and behaviors as exciting, instead of strange, just because they don’t conform to the social norms of your home country.
8. You are ready to travel around the world to satiate the thirst for adventure you began to feel when you had your first expat adventure.
Being truly independent on the other side of the world will be an extremely rewarding and liberating experience, that will give you so much confidence and the desire to continue to discover new places around the world.
All in all being an expat broadens your horizon and makes you more open minded to new cultures, habits, and overall way of life.
