Have you ever moved to live in a different country?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

Just started a thread to ask whether I should leave Britain to go and work and live in Paris and/or Brussels.

Off the back of this, please could I ask for your stories on moving to a different country and how you got on as well as any challenges you faced/what you enjoyed the most and found rewarding?

I lived elsewhere for a couple of years when I was in my twenties and loved it.
The hardest thing I found was that initially everyone I knew was through work, so all of my friends were 'work friends'. This meant that a lot of our conversations even when out socially were about my job. I had to work quite hard to get a social life away from work. It was worth it though - one of the best experiences of my life.

Have lived in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and have now been in China since 2008. Left the UK in 1995.
China is the most challenging due to language and cultural differences - spitting, pushing and shoving, general lack of consideration for anyone outside immediate family. However, it has been a rewarding experience. Dcs were in local schools in Europe which was great, but international schools in China are expensive and really not that much better than a decent comp, despite all the marketing spiel.
My main concerns when moving are health and education. Ime you need to keep on top of what is happening in the international school to ensure children are able to slot back into education system of home country. Healthcare was brilliant in Europe, but for anything serious in China we are evacuated to HK and thterefor do not want to stay here much longer as dh is now 50.

I moved to the Middle East over 4years ago and have settled very well. It's much easier to make friends somewhere where there is lots of expats as they're all in the same boat as you. There's things I miss about the UK but not enough to make me move back yet. Life is what you make it where you are

lived in Canada for a while and absolutely loved it....made the mistake of coming back to the UK though and it was too hard to leave family/friends permanently to go back!

I found having a job out there helped a lot because it was a great way to meet people and integrate.

Yes, we took 3 children aged 8,6 and 3 to live in Scandinavia for 3 years. Best bits were International Schools as they were so multicultural and they now have friends all over the world. Worst part learning the language and everyone wanting to sparks English to you anyway. Also all the socialising and clubs were through School so it felt like we lived in a bubble not true lu part of the community. Loved the healthy lifestyle though and cycle paths and children encounter to have independence. Always felt sad in November when rememberance day/ bonfire night and children in need weren’t celebrated!

Paris is amazing, I love it there. We moved to Madrid, for 2 years, been here 10. We'll never come back, life is good here. Do it.

Yes. I lived in Spain for 13 years but then returned when I had DD. I had a wonderful time. Language was a barrier and it took a lot of hard work to become fluent. Even although I made a great effort o integrate I was and would always be considered a foreigner.

I'm so glad I was able to enjoy my time there prior to DD. Coming home was absolutely the right thing when she was born. I'm really glad to be able to offer her a secure base from which she can go and explore herself when she is older and perhaps I'll do a bit of moving around then myself!

I am French and have lived in several countries:

Spain for 3 years, absolutely loved it and plan on moving back there in the next year or so.

The US (Florida), liked it enough but was sick of not being able to walk to most places and being scared of getting sick and having to fork off huge amounts of money for medical bills. Loved how multicultural it was and how easily I could speak different languages.

Italy, the place was gorgeous and I loved the language and the culture/food but food people, especially men in Rome quite rude and it was hard to feel at home there.

Australia, gorgeous landscape very nice people, easy enough to make friends as lots of expat but extremely expensive and so far away from everything and the time difference makes you feel quite isolated. I also loved the wildlife as much as I hated it, bugs there are 3x the size of an insect in Europe and I would be a bit paranoid about spiders and and venomous jellyfish/sharks.

The Carribean, very nice people and gorgeous landscapes, but extremely conservative and quite boring in the long run. I wouldn't live there again as I was really bothered by the gap between the poor and the rich and didn't feel I could have the same quality of life as I would in Europe. Would go back on holidays though.

I now live in Germany and considering and I love Berlin, winters are rough but Berlin has this vibe that you can't really find anywhere else. My biggest challenge living in Germany is learning German. It's extremely tough and people usually speak English anyway so it's easy to be lazy and switch to English. Germans can also be very set in their ways and come across as a bit cold/formal which is odd when you've been living in warmer countries for a while (not too bad when you are French though). Still getting over shaking people's hand instead of giving them kisses on the cheeks.

I did a year in USA as a student then moved back to USA (different state) in my mid 20’s, went for a year stayed for 9. Both my DS’s were born there. Now back in UK but would like to move abroad again after the kids are finished with school.

Have lived just outside Brussels for 11.5 years. 2 more years and I can go home, back to my own four walls.

I moved to the USA after I graduated, met DH there but he was from another country. We moved to the UK after 5 years in the USA. The nature of DH's job means we've lived in 3 countries that are neither of our own and we've lived in both of our own countries. We currently live in DH's country. Living abroad is challenging, living in countries where you are speaking a second language is even harder. I needed about 6 months to adjust to the USA and about a year to feel at home. The countries I lived where I didn't speak the language, it took a bit longer, depending on the country, people and language.

We lived in NZ for 4 years, and loved it,now back in the UK to be nearer family. We experienced culture shock when we moved there, and reverse culture shock when we moved back. I absolutely would do it again though, and I think our, and our 3 dc's, outlooks and attitudes are richer for having experienced more of the world, and living away from home. Our children are certainly far more adaptable and embrace new things and people better because of their experiences overseas I think. The best thing we did for them was to show them more of the world.

Ski4130 -how old were your Dc when you moved away?

I would love to try life elsewhere even for a short period of time, but worry about the older dc (we have 4), who are 11 and 13. On the one hand...I feel it would be hugely beneficial for them to broaden their horizons,step outside comfort zones etc. We live in a very naice/mc ‘bubble’ area, and I do worry that their world view is developing into a very narrow one. On the other hand, I know the teenage years can be hard enough to negotiate without throwing the trauma of leaving friends behind, uprooting etc.

Any thoughts on the dc side of things would be interesting to hear!

Ours were 16 months, 4 and 7 when we emigrated, and 11, 8 and 5 when we came back. It was hard but children are massively adaptable, and ours surprised us by how they threw themselves into their new lives in NZ, and if anything they made it easier for us. If you have kids you have a route to meet new people - in my case at school with eldest ds, kindy with younger ds and a playgroup with dd. You have to put yourself out there because your kids want friends round, so you sort of have to push yourself forward and talk to the other parents, and I'm quite shy so it took me out my comfort zone :-)

When we came back all three were well equipped to start new schools, and meet new friends, without too much trauma. Ds1 made the change to senior school without a backward glance, and took it in his stride, and that's down to him being used to change I think.

Feel free to pm me if you think I'd be any help, it's a massive move but one I'm glad we did.

Thanks Ski

I spent 6 months in France on my own as a student and it nearly broke me. Then I spent 6 months in Barcelona which I got through by lots of friends coming out to visit. The culture shock was overwhelming and I would never do it again!

We moved from London to Brussels in August. Stressful process but I'm really glad we did it. So please DM me if you'd like any practical advice

Moved to Switzerland the better part of a decade ago - mostly because my then husband insisted and I thought I could always go back if I hated it. I'm actually still loving it (but have since dumped the husband).

One thing working in my favour at the time was that I entered the job market at an age when most locals would be getting their first graduate jobs and in an industry with a long-hours culture. It basically meant that I had a ready-made group of friends waiting for me upon arrival.

Trying to make friends with people who don't work in the industry in this country is basically impossible unless you're young or have something to connect over, I think. Every single person I'd call a friend around here is either a colleague or a former colleague or someone I met at an industry event or - at a stretch - someone who was already friends with one of the aforementioned. I was prouder to be invited for drinks by my neighbour than when I got my degree.