All of this will make you stronger and more resilient over time, because you learn that you can manage no matter what, even if you're far away from your family and friends. Or you might not get their help at all and have to fend for yourself (more on this later). If you move to your partner’s country, you might have the advantage of getting assistance with these things. You might end up suddenly realizing how much you tend to take for granted simple things like going to the supermarket and asking for help, or trying to do taxes in your own language, or applying for a job. There is really nothing more empowering (albeit shockingly out of your comfort zone), than trying to start your life in another country without an identity, friends, langauge skills, or familiar surroundings. Whether alone or with a partner when you create a life there, you give independence a new meaning. Learning personal strength when you move abroad to a foreign country Hanging out at the Great Wall at Mutianyu #2 Strength Plus, in China, those initial oddities you find freaking awesome are the same ones that will leave you yelling in the street screaming ‘WEISHENME!?’ Why must you spit on my shoe!? Why!?’
I should also add for the sake of transparency that like anything, expat life is not all roses, you will see in the follow-up article, I had many BCD-Bad China Days as well. Every day something would happen though that was unexpected and there was always room to appreciate newness in common activities you normally would take for granted.
I have to say, having a job, friends, a routine, dry cleaners, all the ‘normal’ daily activities was still amazing to me even after so many years. And I marveled at how cool that was on a regular basis as I bought my dumplings at the corner, or went to cobbler to get my shoes mended, speaking to the friendly Chinese man as I always did. Would wake up, have breakfast with my roommates, go outside, and be in China. Even when I lived in China, there was always something cool to me about walking outside my door and suddently realizing “I live in China! Holy Crap!." I know this sounds funny, but somedays I totally forgot. You study in Spanish, or go to the bakery in Italy around the corner, bikeride and picnic in the park in Germany after picking up warm butter pretzels and cold beers to go. You're foreign and yet living among locals - which feels pretty cool. Something about wandering around a city on the other ends of the earth far from where you were born only that ‘foreign’ place is your home is absolutely, indescribably awesome. The number one kick ass thing about living in a foreign land is the novelty of it- for me, it never goes away. You will learn to appreciate newness in common activities I will also include later "5 things that can suck" as a part 2 - so stay tuned. I wanted to compile a list of the 5 kick ass benefits of being an expat abroad. Over the last 20 years, I have worked, lived, or studied in 7 different countries (Argentina, China, Germany, Italy, Mexico, UK, USA) and been fortunate enough to call Buenos Aires, Beijing, Munich, Rome, London, San Miguel de Allende, and Athens, Georgia my homes). Moving alone to Mexico changed my life forever and that experience of moving abroad made me into the person I am today. I paid the program and decided to go to Mexico to learn Spanish, England to do volunteer work, and then China to study Chinese and teach English. This was before the wonders of the internet so I found a program called Leap Now, then run by Sam Bull (I think I found an ad in the 1996 Berkeley Guide to Europe. I knew that I had to figure out some way to live there. That was my first encounter with London and I was blown away. I went to Europe for the first time without my parents with my high school friends in 1996 after my highschool graduation and fell in love with it. I knew I needed to get out and explore because nothing good would come of me staying there. I was depressed and engaging in all sorts of unhealthy behaviors and making bad choices for a wide variety of dumb reasons including a broken home life, which, out of respect for my family's privacy, will not get into here. Unlike what seems to be a very high number of Americans I know, high school was absolutely not the best time of my life. Maybe it's because I grew up in Minnesota and not NYC, but I always knew there was something I was looking for in life and also knew I wasn't going to find it in Minnesota.