Moving abroad
The benefits of moving abroad for work
Find your place in the world
One of the main things I learned from my time abroad was that there are people living their lives all over the world. This may sound obvious, but it doesn’t occur to everyone. People live, work, eat, and fall in love all over the world, all of the time. You are rarely restricted by living in your home country to find your dream job, or at least to get yourself started. Living and working abroad can help you develop a clearer sense of self, and help you to understand yourself and your goals more clearly. My time in Sweden did this for me, and eight months after graduating from university I moved from the UK to Switzerland to start working for EF Academy. I could not have made a better decision.
Grow as an individual
Living and working abroad can certainly be intimidating, but it opens up so many opportunities. In the next five years, global executives will need experience of working abroad in order to keep up with the changing nature of business. As we grow into “the people that work abroad”, our experiences set us apart from those who stayed at home. Living abroad allows us to understand ourselves on a deeper level and be more comfortable with who we are. Our experiences allow us to see the world and ourselves from a different perspective, and help us to approach life differently than others.
Experience cultures as a local
With each new country or city comes a new culture and, in many cases, new languages to learn. One of the joys of living abroad is finding that you have something in common with someone from a completely different cultural background. Depending on where you go, you will also likely notice tourists visiting the city where you live. This is a particular point of pride to me: I get to live somewhere that others want to visit on holiday, and I can see it every day of the year. Being able to see the cycle of the seasons in a place and experience all of the different cultural moments throughout the year is so amazing.
There are times when living away from home can perhaps be lonely, and it will always take some time to establish yourself in a new place. But once you have built a life somewhere, it is so rewarding. Finding your people and getting involved in the community of a new place is an experience like no other. On top of that, those of us who choose this path are many, and the more we interact, the more amazing opportunities we can offer each other.
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The brutal truth about living abroad
There are a lot of articles out there that make it seem like moving abroad is a grand sparkling adventure. You know the type, right? They seem all free spirited and romantic, with advice like “Leave all your contrived routines and superficial possessions behind and go discover yourself in a new country.” Or all parental, “You’ll be a more well-rounded, grounded adult after you’ve lived abroad.” I call bullshit. I don’t think it’s for everyone, and it sure isn’t easy, so I’m here to provide some brutal honesty about the realities of moving abroad.
In my early 20’s I moved from Kelowna, BC, Canada, to London, UK, where one year turned into six. I’ve now been living in Beijing, China for five months. I left my cosy hometown, which sits by a gorgeous lake nestled amongst mountains, then migrated to a vast multicultural city littered with pubs, and have recently made a drastic shift to an overpopulated and polluted megacity where everyone speaks Chinese (surprise, surprise).
If you’re considering moving abroad, or feeling envious of your Facebook friends and their grand adventures, please be reminded of the fragmented view that social media portrays. There’s a lot of stuff you don’t see on the highlights reel.
If you’re thinking of making the move, be warned:
- You will never be 100% happy living in one country ever again.
- You will feel uncomfortable.
- You will feel out of place and stupid for not knowing how to do simple things.
- You will feel unsettled.
- You will feel lonely.
- You will change.
- You will miss birthdays, Christmases, baby showers, bridal showers, (you might even miss hot showers depending where you move).
That last one is hard. The people you love the most have lives that carry on without you.
If you’ve dipped your toes in this far and you’re like whatever, I can handle it. Then awesome, hop on Skyscanner and filter by a one-way flight to “everywhere.” But seriously, who can honestly read that and say “sign me up!” Sometimes, like right now for instance, I look back at the decisions I’ve made and things I’ve done, and it really hits me: WTF was I thinking.
I’ve missed out on a lot, like day-to-day closeness with friends and family and events like my high school reunion (did I miss out or luck out..). I’ve lived my 20s split between several homes. I have been very lucky in my life abroad though, I don’t have any horror stories or crazy scandals, just a few bumps and bruises. Here’s a few that haven’t made the Facebook highlights reel:
- Waitressing in London is hard. I wouldn’t recommend it.
- Living without a washing machine is a pain. Two years of trekking to a laundromat is my limit
- I get sick a lot. Beijing Belly is a thing. Chinese food can unleash a wrath on your body like no other.
- I lost a lot of money because I screwed up my taxes. Living and working in multiple countries is complicated.
- Being unemployed is not character building, it melts away confidence, pride, and any feelings of self-worth like no other.
But hey, I wouldn’t change any of it.
I am so in love with the experiences I’ve had and the life I’ve lived. I’m proud that I’ve made it through some shitty experiences and made it through to the other side. The sense of achievement for the smallest things, like finding a grocery store that has familiar food, setting up a bank account, or riding a bike for the first time in chaotic streets, is such a high.
In the beginning, small wins are frequent and exciting. They start to pile up against the setbacks and struggles. Then some more great things then start to happen as you settle in to your new home.
- New friends — You meet people you never would have encountered back home. Fellow expats are going through similar experiences, are constantly going away on weekends, planning events and making the most out of life abroad. Don’t overlook new friends, they may turn out to be true friends. New doesn’t need to replace old.
- Living on less — You accidentally become more minimalist when you realise you don’t need as much stuff as you thought. When you’re living off a suitcase or two, you forget about all the things you left behind
- New experiences — Some are nice, some not so nice. But your world gets bigger when you put yourself in new places and try things you’re uncomfortable with. You’ll try amazing (and sometimes horrendous) new foods you’ve never heard of before, and you’ll regain a fascination for your old history lessons as you walk on the ground where it all happened.
As time goes on, a slow shift will happen. Truly living and experiencing a new culture will deeply affect you and change you. You might not notice as it’s not a sparkling, dramatic change. Travelling is sparkling. A new fling is sparkling. Living and working abroad can follow a very dull routine like your life in your home country. But living long enough in a new country will bring that slow burn, everlasting sort of change like that forever type of love. Change like:
- You see a new way of doing things. A new culture and a new way of looking at things. Sometimes it’ll grate you the wrong way and make you miss the ‘normal’ way, but other times it’s refreshing and makes you question the way you’ve always done things. Normal is just a perspective.
- You might not become worldly and wise but you’ll witness other cultures for yourself so you can make your own conclusions. You may also see why some stereotypes sometimes ring true.Our environment shapes us.
- You realise how special your home is.
- You realise how important moments with the people you love are.
- You become more present as you simply cannot foresee the future or a future ‘permanent’ home.
Before I finish off and leave you to go either book or cancel your flights, I’d like to give you one final word of warning.
If you move abroad, you might not come back.
There’s often an inner desire to put down roots in your home country, but life tends to get in the way. Then again, maybe roots are overrated. People who have lived abroad are firmly rooted and connected to this planet. Our roots are spread far and wide.
There is no one right way to live your life. Living abroad isn’t for everyone, and it doesn’t make us better people than those who choose to stay wonderfully close to their original homes, friends and families. I don’t for one minute believe that people who haven’t lived abroad don’t face challenges. Everyone is living their own story.
Challenge yourself and do things you’re scared of. Live somewhere new or put yourself in new situations. Live abroad or truly live in one place. Just be aware that that grand sparkling adventure might not be quite as you expected, and yet, your life will never be the same.
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What Does Working Abroad Do For You?
By Robin Moriarty
I read an article from Business Insider that referenced a study by Rice University, Columbia University and the University of North Carolina. After surveying more than 1,800 students in M.B.A. programs (some of whom lived abroad, some of whom did not), the study found that people who had lived in different cultures had a greater sense of clarity about themselves - who they are, values that are important to them, and reflections about the cultures in which they were living as well as the cultures from which they came.
From a life perspective, spending time abroad is transformative. And anyone who has lived abroad (or known someone who has returned home after an experience away) knows how profound it can be. I’ve lived on four continents and traveled to 60+ countries, and each time I’m away, I learn something about another culture, I learn something about my own culture, and I learn something about myself. It’s a never-ending process of observing, learning, reflecting, growing and changing.
Although it’s not addressed in the study, I have seen and experienced that living and working abroad can be transformative from a professional perspective, too. Professional development can skyrocket for people who spend time in a new culture if they are open to the new experiences and challenges that are an inherent part of spending time away from home.
Given the quantity and variety of new experiences that one will encounter, grapple with, and have to figure out how to resolve has led me to assert that living and working abroad for two years is like living and working in the U.S. for five years simply because the number of situations you have to figure out is exponential. The experience is life-altering, and the development is intense.
Just think about it. When you are in your home culture, there are a million things that happen every day that you don’t even think about. You are on auto-pilot when it comes to how to order and pay for your coffee, how a work meeting with be run, which language you’ll speak in that meeting, how to get a doctor’s appointment, how to pay your bills, which route to take to work, what is appropriate attire for an occasion, where/how/when to buy your groceries, how to turn on your stove, how to get hot water in your shower, which way to look when you cross the street, how to get your laundry done, and many other seemingly trivial activities.
When living abroad, you cannot be on auto-pilot. There are language barriers and how-things-get-done-differently-here barriers that require you to pay attention to even the most minute details of routine life. As a result, skills of observation and levels of awareness go up dramatically. And you gain an innate understanding that there’s more than one way to accomplish any objective, big or small. These skills obviously are brought into your professional life as well, so your abilities to step back, observe, assess a situation, get creative about choices for your approach, and move forward are constantly developed, refined and honed.
This process of professional development doesn’t always happen smoothly, and that should be considered a part of the experience. The learnings often happen with ups and downs, including phases of elation and frustration, of happiness and depression, of confidence and humility, of exhaustion and excitement, of boredom and overstimulation, and of culture clashes and nice cultural surprises. Having the tenacity to continue to push forward requires high levels of persistence, resilience, adaptability and flexibility - all qualities, by the way, that we want in our leaders!
So if you’re looking for a boost to your professional development and have the willingness and ability to put yourself into a situation that will challenge you in new ways, living and working abroad might be for you. It will likely result in the development of a clearer sense of self as well as professional growth that comes with self-awareness, reflection, humility, resilience, persistence, flexibility, creativity and adaptability. It’s not necessarily an easy path, but it is a transformative one!
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Living Abroad And Finding Purpose In Life
By Adi Gaskell
Last year I explored interesting research examining "citizens of the world." This growing cohort are comfortable living and working around the world and have been typified by a raft of new services that have emerged to support "digital nomads."
A recent study by Rice University, Columbia University and the University of North Carolina highlights the benefits of such a globe-trotting lifestyle. The study found that a spell living abroad increases something the researchers call "self-concept clarity," which in layman’s term is our understanding and comfort with ourselves.
The study found that living abroad encourages us to reflect on the norms and values of both their home and host nation. This period of reflection help people to better understand and define the values that reflect who they are:
"In a world where living-abroad experiences are increasingly common and technological advances make cross-cultural travel and communication ever easier, it is critical that research keeps pace with these developments and seeks to understand how they affect people," they explain. “Our studies demonstrate that living abroad affects the fundamental structure of the self-concept by enhancing its clarity. The German philosopher Hermann von Keyserling wrote in the epigraph to his 1919 book 'The Travel Diary of a Philosopher,' 'The shortest path to oneself leads around the world.' Almost 100 years later, our research provides empirical evidence in support of this idea."
Finding yourself
The study attempted to provide a more nuanced exposition of living abroad than previous works, focusing on the impact depth (i.e. the length of time spent abroad) of our experiences rather than the breadth (the number of countries lived in). This depth proved crucial, as the longer people lived abroad, the more self-discerning their reflections became, which in turn helped to bolster their understanding of themselves and the life they wanted.
The authors believe that their findings have very practical implications for multi-national organizations as well as for us as individuals. It’s fairly well known that other significant life experiences, such as divorce or redundancy, that force us to transition from one state to another prompt periods of reflection, but the research suggests that living abroad can prompt the same kind of thoughts.
This introspection can provide a range of benefits, from enhanced life satisfaction to lower stress levels and better productivity. What’s more, it also gives people a greater idea as to their true purpose in life, and subsequently what careers they can pursue to best obtain that lifestyle.
Trotting the globe
The Nordic country of Estonia is aiming to try and support this kind of nomadic lifestyle via a new visa created for such globe-trotting workers.
The Digital Nomad Visa will allow people to travel and work in Estonia for up to 365 days. This would also provide them with access to the Schengen Area, which consists of 26 European states that have abolished passport controls. Those with the visa can travel to any of these other states for up to 90 days.
The development has already been through an advisory stage and is now being developed into a formal proposal for legislature. The process defines a digital nomad as an individual who can work independently of location, with the majority of their work conducted online:
“Migration policy has to take into account the fact that in today’s globalised world, people are more mobile, often combining work and travel. Estonia is at the forefront of e-solutions and our e-Residency programme has already become very popular among digital nomads, allowing them location-independent access to Estonian e-services. It is therefore not surprising that the digital nomad community has suggested creating a special visa to facilitate the entry of digital nomads to Estonia. With the help of Jobbatical, the Ministry of Interior is currently gathering input from the digital nomad community to analyse the possibility of creating a “Digital Nomad Visa,” says Killu Vantsi, Legal Migration Adviser at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior.
At a time when many nations appear to be shutting down borders, and therefore the opportunities for people to tap into the benefits outlined by the study at the start of this post, their actions are very much welcomed.
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