Common Problems of Moving Overseas

Traveling overseas is interesting, it’s a lovely place to be. At first when you just arrive you feel at home and also enjoy the lovely serene.

Even with this interesting environment and the comfortable lifestyle, you are living there, you will still face some hiccups during your stay.

Most people believe that traveling abroad is fun alone without challenges, but the honest truth is you can’t stay in place without having one or two issues to deal with. Below are some of the common challenges you might face when you travel overseas.

Common Challenges of traveling abroad

1. Adjusting to different work culture

Every country has its own work culture, and they operate differently on their own principles and protocol.

For example, the work culture between the Philippines and Sweden is totally different. Sweden is one of the best countries with the convenient work culture. But in the Philippines, you have to hustle to make a living.

In sweden there are different working companies and you are opportune to work with a Foreign country. You work with people with a different work system and they work based on their work culture.

This is one of the challenges when you move abroad, you have to adjust to their work culture. This is quite difficult because where you are coming from has a different working principle.

It becomes a challenge because you have no choice than to adjust to their system. You need to be open & try to withhold your judgments and assumptions.

Although working with new people it’s also interesting, because you learn something new from them and also improve on your working standard.

2.Distance from home

Another greatest challenge is the distance from home Shocking right! The distance from your home will make you spend more when you are traveling and would reduce the times you visit your family. For instance you stay in Manilla and work in Canada going home to visit your family will be expensive compared to when you are working within your place of residence.

3.Language barriers

This one is a major challenge most people encounter especially when you have no idea of how to speak their language before traveling. Communication is a key factor when working with people generally. If you can’t communicate in the language they understand you can’t work with them.

Imagine you are working in the Philippines where they communicate in than calog and you only speak and hear English language. You will definitely have language barrier issues making your job boring and uninteresting, especially when there is no one to interpret for you.

If you moved to another country that speaks a different language aside your mother’s tongue, it will definitely be a challenge!

4.Losing contact with friends

Losing contact happens often especially when you relocate. Although it’s a normal thing but one might feel lonely, when you are unable to communicate with your family and friends for a long time.

You might have the contacts of close family members and friends but still there are some you loose their contacts and you wish you can catch up again. Well that’s one of those things you experience when you travel overseas!

Even those you still have their contact, the communication won’t be the same because of distance. Like they say “out of sight is out of mind”.

5.Getting overwhelmed with living abroad challenges

I guess this hits you hard. The joy that overwhelm you as a new person abroad is even enough to drain you. Having so many luggage and you are like where would I start from?. I can imagine how you would feel because I was once in that situation.

Once you arrive overseas a lot of things just starts to take place, you begin to feel the pressure of these events.

When you begin a new job, you need to get a place to stay and organize yourself. All these activities put together can be very tasking.

The best way to take care of these things without feeling stressed out is by handling them one at a time. Don’t rush all within a short time it will definitely weigh you down.

You can take your time to plan your house chores by getting some kitchen appliances, that will help facilitate the process and lessen the work load. By the time you are done organizing yourself, then you can breath a fresh air and feel alive again. This time you have handled the pressure.

6.Adjusting to work in a new country

Working in a new place especially in a different environment is interesting. But overlooking the challenges you have to deal with at first, is like a woman who forgets she will have to go through labor before giving birth. Adjusting to your new job and working environment is not what you can easily blend with.

Apparently you have to adjust to everything as an expat, the work culture, food, language, lifestyle, environment etc. The challenge of dealing with everything at a time is the major problem. Be sure you are straight forward and tractable with your work, so everything will fall in place.

7.Fitting in as an expat

It’s natural to feel out of place when you find yourself in a new environment. As an expat in a new country you find alot of things strange. Reason is you are coming from a different place, with a culture different from your present place of residence. Fitting in and settling down with everything around you will be a big challenge.

As an expat traveling overseas you should have an open mind, been aware that there are many approach to life and different cultures. So you don’t have to be rigid about your lifestyle. In essence Prepare yourself to accept, learn and adjust in a new environment, so you would have your peace of mind while in that country. This is called “Cultural intelligence” and mastering it will help you blend with ease.The first 30 days as an expat can be like a whirlwind, but things will slowly fall into place.

What you should bear in mind is that fitting in is not such a big thing to deal with, and it isn’t a new thing. You just have to do a little hard work and everything will fall into place. Don’t exempt yourself from their cultural events and other events this way you will learn faster and adjust.

When you mingle with them it gives you a clue on how things are done, that way you don’t get to feel out of place. Truth is you can only adjust when you associate with people and subject yourself to the new change occurring in your life at the moment.

8.Making friends

Making new friends is easier for some, while for others it’s difficult. While some persons find it easy to mingle with people. Some actually find it difficult to do that. They just love to be on their own. With such kind of people it will be difficult to adjust to a new environment.

If you are finding it challenging to meet people and talk with them one on one, then try using a search method. Examples of search method is searching for friends on groups online, research the expat community and find expat activities on social media.

Join these social groups it will expose you to different categories of people, who you can learn things from and also ask questions too.

Conclusion

If you are planning to travel overseas don’t allow this to scare you and make you cancel your plans of accepting the job offer or whatever is taking you there. These things are normal and you will get over them and adjust in no time. Just get yourself prepared for the changes and feel free don’t panic.

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