If you’ve ever lived away from
home or embarked on a long journey , I’m
sure you too have felt these 17 things that
change forever when you live abroad.
1. Adrenalin becomes part of your life.
From the moment you decide to move
abroad, your life turns into a powerful mix of
emotions – learning, improvising, dealing
with the unexpected… All your senses
sharpen up, and for a while the word
“routine” is dismissed from your vocabulary
to make space for an ever rising adrenalin
thrill ride. New places, new habits, new
challenges, new people. Starting anew should
terrify you, but it’s unusually addictive.
2. But when you go back… everything looks
the same.
That’s why, when you get a few days off and
fly back home, it strikes you how little
everything has changed. Your life’s been
changing at a non-stop pace, and you’re on
holidays and ready to share all those
anecdotes you’ve been piling up. But, at
home, life’s the same as ever. Everyone
keeps struggling with their daily chores, and
it suddenly strikes you: life won’t stop for
you .
3. You lack the (and yet you have too many)
words.
When someone asks you about your new
life, you lack the right words to convey all
you’re experiencing. Yet later, in the middle
of a random conversation, something
reminds you about ‘that time when’…, and
you have to hold your tongue because you
don’t want to overwhelm everyone with
stories from your ‘other country’ and come
across as pretentious.
4. You come to understand that courage is
overrated.
Lots of people will tell you how brave you are
– they too would move abroad if they
weren’t so scared. And you, even though
you’ve been scared, too, know that courage
makes up about 10% of life-changing
decisions. The other 90% is purely about
wanting it with all your heart. Do you want to
do it, do you really feel like doing it? Then do
it. From the moment we decide to jump,
we’re no longer cowards nor courageous –
whatever comes our way, we deal with it.
«It’s a dangerous business,
Frodo, going out your door. You
step onto the road, and if you
don’t keep your feet, there’s no
knowing where you might be
swept off to.»
5. And, suddenly, you’re free.
You’ve always been free, but freedom feels
different now. Now that you’ve given up
every comfort and made it work thousands
of miles away from home… you feel like
you’re capable of anything!
6. You no longer speak one particular
language.
Sometimes you unintentionally let a word
from another language slip. Other times you
can only think of a way of saying something…
with that perfect word which, by the way, is
in the wrong language. When you interact
with a foreign language on a daily basis, you
learn and unlearn at the same time. All the
while you’re soaking up cultural references
and swear words in your second language,
you find yourself reading in your mother
tongue so it won’t get rusty. Like that time
when Homer took a home winemaking
course and forgot how to drive.
7. You learn to say goodbye… and to enjoy
yourself.
You soon realize that now, most things and
people in your life are just passing through,
and you instinctively play down the
importance of most situations. You perfect
the right balance between bonding and letting
go – a perpetual battle between nostalgia
and pragmatism.
8. You have two of everything.
Two SIM cards (one of them packed with
phone numbers from all over the world), two
library cards, two bank accounts… And two
types of coins, which always end up
mysteriously mixing when you’re about to
pay for something.
9. Normal? What’s normal?
Living abroad, like traveling, makes you
realise that ‘normal’ only means socially or
culturally accepted. When you plunge into a
different culture and a different society, your
notion of normality soon falls apart. You learn
there are other ways of doing things, and
after a while, you too take to that habit you
never thought you’d embrace. You also get to
know yourself a little better, because you
discover that some things you really believe
in, while others are just a cultural heritage of
the society you grew up in.
10. You become a tourist in your own city.
That tourist trap you may not have visited in
your country only adds up to the never-
ending list of things to do in your new home,
and you soon become quite the expert on
your new city. But when someone comes
over for a few days and asks for some
suggestions, you find it really hard to
recommend but a few things – if it were up
to you, you’d recommend visiting everything!
11. You learn how to be patient… and how to
ask for help.
When you live abroad, the simplest task can
become a huge challenge. Processing
paperwork, finding the right word, knowing
which bus to take. There’s always moments
of distress, but you’re soon filled with more
patience than you ever knew you had in you,
and accept that asking for help is not only
inevitable, but also a very healthy habit.
12. Time is measured in tiny little moments.
It’s as if you were looking through the car
window – everything moves really slowly at
the back, in the distance, while in front of
you life passes by at full speed. On the one
hand, you receive news from home –
birthdays you missed, people who left
without you getting the chance to say
goodbye one last time, celebrations you
won’t be able to attend. On the other hand, in
your new home life goes by at top speed.
Time is so distorted now, that you learn how
to measure it in tiny little moments, either a
Skype call with your family and old friends or
a pint with the new ones.
13. Nostalgia strikes when you least expect
it.
A food, a song, a smell. The smallest trifle
can overwhelm you with homesickness. You
miss those little things you never thought
you’d miss, and you’d give anything to go
back to that place, even if it were just for an
instant. Or to share that feeling with someone
who’d understand you…
14. But you know it’s not where, but when
and how.
Although deep down, you know you don’t
miss a place, but a strange and magical
conjunction of the right place, the right
moment and the right people. That year when
you traveled, when you shared your life with
special ones, when you were so happy.
There’s a tiny bit of who you were scattered
among all the places you’ve lived in, but
sometimes going back to that place is not
enough to stop missing it.
15. You change.
I’m sure you’ve heard about life-changing
trips. Well, they’re not a commonplace –
living abroad is a trip that will profoundly
change your life and who you are. It will
shake up your roots, your certainties and
your fears . Living in Edinburgh changed us
forever in many ways, and if it weren’t for
that experience, we probably wouldn’t be
about to embark on our next life adventure
right now. Maybe you won’t realise it, or
even believe it, before you do it. But after
some time, one day you’ll see it crystal
clear. You’ve evolved, you’ve got scars,
you’ve lived. You’ve changed.
16. You fit your home into a suitcase.
From the moment you squeeze your life into
a suitcase (or, if you’re lucky with your
airline, two), whatever you thought ‘home’
was doesn’t exist anymore. Almost anything
you can touch can be replaced – wherever
you travel, you’ll end up stockpiling new
clothes, new books, new mugs. But there will
come a day when you’ll suddenly feel at
home in your new city . Home is the person
traveling with you, the people you leave
behind, the streets where your life takes
place. Home is also the random stuff in your
new flat, those things you’ll get rid of in the
blink of an eye when the time to leave
comes. Home is all those memories, all
those long-distance calls with your family
and friends, a bunch of pictures.
17. And… there’s no turning back.
Now you know what it means to give up
comfort, what starting from scratch and
marveling at the world every day feels like.
And it being such a huge, endless world…
How could you choose not to keep traveling
and discovering it?
Have you ever lived abroad? Is there
anything you would add to this list? Drop us
a comment and tell us about your
experience! Source : http://masedimburgo.com/2014/06/04/17-things-change-forever-live-abroad/

So true!

Thanks for the Info, getting prepared

So true!!

#11,13 so so true....

Hmmn, Baba GOD, this year must not pass me by. Amen

u begin to see all the things wrong with country,

u start to demand respect. no one one has swore at u in a long
time, then u waka pass one guy, u accidentally stepped on his toes
next thing u go hear '' OGA U BLIND, WHY U MARCH ME NA?? '' for some reason u
dont reply or u just say sorry.
but a if na before u travel, u go chargeeeee, and start to cause am

u get sensitised to human suffering, its not common to see pple in pain where u come frm,

but wen u land home, as u are being driven home, u go see a young woman with massive sore fore leg

or burns all over her body. her little child go hold plate dey beg money. everybody go just dey waka pass

but ur mind g use stlye spoil but u no wan show am make dem no say u dey shakara

As a Nigerian travelling abroad, almost everything that is wrong here changes forever. You would be free from the dusty street, bad road, erratic power supply; so the idea of getting yourself a generator or solar power will be forgotten for life.