Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
17 Things that change forever when you live abroad ♥
17 Things that change forever when you live abroad
♥
By Angie Castells
♥ (((( I LOVE this article and all the 17 points are so true, i feel once you set your foot out of your home country NOTHING will ever be the same again in your life. You will never be the same again)))) ♥
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. Home is where the heart is.
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?
Source:
http://masedimburgo.com/2014/06/04/17-things-change-forever-live-abroad/#sthash.H9gOIsvz.dpuf
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Does Emirates recruit cabin crews over 30 years old?
If anyone is curious about their max-age, then here is the proof. Emirates' target age...
-
During the assessment day with Qatar Airways, the candidates do an English test. The English test starts by you reading a story. The stor...
-
I found this online written by someone who currently works for EK as cc...and this is written by her/him.... Unfortunately dont know who ...
-
Have you ever wondered how a cabin crew roster looks like? Below are some sample rosters from Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates.