7 Reasons Why Living Abroad Will Be The Best Thing You Will Do In Your Life
A response to my other article: 7 Reasons why living abroad sucks
Have you ever wondered if it would be a good idea to live in a foreign country for a year or two?
If the idea of living in another country has been burning inside your heart, I’m here to convince you to mark that dream off of your bucket list right now. And I’d like to do that by sharing some of my personal top 7 reasons why living abroad is definitely the best thing you can ever do in your life.
Traveling the world is like allowing yourself to write a page of your life. Living abroad, however, is like writing, drawing, and painting a whole new chapter — if not an entire book — of your life in the most beautiful and unique way. It truly is a more enriching and remarkable experience.
However, like everything else in life, there’s no experience that is perfect 100% of the time. This is why I wrote an article in which I talk about the negative side of living abroad. I share some characteristics that expose the true reality of those who live in another country. You can find it here after you finish reading this one.
7- You will get to experience the culture in a unique way
There’s a huge difference between hearing about a certain culture and being able to see what that culture is like with your own eyes. When you live inside of a certain culture, you kind of become a part of it. It’s fun to learn about different customs and traditions, but when you get to experience them yourself, it’s unforgettable.
As a Brazilian, when I lived in the U.S., I thought I wouldn’t come across so many different cultural characteristics between the U.S. and Brazil, but I was wrong. The way people live there is so different. From realizing that people eat a big breakfast (bagels, waffles, pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon) and skip lunch (which is the complete opposite thing we do in Brazil: we skip breakfast and lunch is our main meal of the day: rice, beans, stake and salad), to noticing some other deeper things of life, such as how life in the U.S. is a lot more work-centered, everything feels a lot more fast-paced, and there’s less human touch when you’re with your friends.
On top of that, now that I’m living in a European country, I can see that there are so many more different traditions and characteristics than I thought. Not only between Ireland and Brazil, but among Ireland, Brazil, and the U.S.
No book, blog post, or documentary would be enough to teach me about what life is like in these countries. It truly feels different and a lot more real when you are living in them. And that teaches you so much about yourself, the world, and everything you believe in.
6- You will question your beliefs and goals after you start comparing countries (in a good way)
When I compare the U.S. to Ireland and I notice that there’s so much focus on career and money in the U.S. and in Ireland, the focus is a lot more on the routine and the relationship you have with your friends and family, as an outsider, I’m allowed to balance these things out and reflect on what kind of life I have chosen for myself. Focusing on a career isn’t a bad thing. But neglecting the beauty and fun of the simple things of life such as going to a pub with your friends on a regular basis, is what makes focusing on our career bad sometimes. When you don’t have time to enjoy life, then, that’s when your job is doing something bad to you.
I love that people in Ireland aren’t attached to titles and jobs. In the U.S., certain jobs were only for immigrants, or other marginalized groups of people because certain jobs were seen as something shameful. I love that this idea of looking down on people because of what job they have is not very present in Irish culture. Everybody respects everybody regardless of what job they have. In the U.S., I felt ashamed for saying I worked as a babysitter because I knew people would always question what my next move was, why was I doing that, or even if I was intelligent enough for working other jobs.
It’s not only in Ireland, but it’s a European thing to focus more on quality of life rather than just what fancy job you have. You don’t judge people based on what job they have. You don’t question their intelligence and worth just because they work in the kitchen, or cleaning houses. One of my co-workers has a master’s degree in biomedicine, and he isn’t working in his field not because he can’t find a job or because he’s lazy, but because he loves being a chef and as a chef, he can afford all the things he needs in order to live a life full of quality. Isn’t it how it should be? That I’m able to afford everything I need regardless of what job I have? This is a reality I found very distant in the U.S., and only by living in another culture, I was able to see that.
5- You will get to celebrate the holidays in a unique way
Another super awesome cultural experience you have is that you get to celebrate a lot of holidays in real life. Some of which you had only heard in movies, and now are a huge part of your day-to-day life.
It’s truly a fun experience. Countries have different histories which makes them celebrate different holidays, and that will certainly influence how you go about your experience.
The first time I got to celebrate a few holidays was really fun. I loved celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time, some Jewish holidays for the first time, and Labor Day for the first time. I also loved the fact I got to celebrate Halloween for the first time. I had only heard about it in movies, but when I went trick-and-treating for the first time was so much fun. I also got to go to the New York City Halloween Parade and it was such a remarkable experience. I also went to Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 2019, and it was such a great moment. These things may seem to be simple, but as a foreigner, it really changes how you live your experience.
4- Traveling within the foreign country you’re living in will be a lot easier (and from where you are to the other countries around)
How many separate trips to Europe would I have to book if I didn’t live here? How much harder would it be if I wanted to visit as many places as possible? How many days would I have to stay if I wanted to visit many different towns in Ireland?
Being from Brazil makes traveling very hard. And the biggest reason is that Brazil is very far from everything else. It’s a huge country on a kind of isolated continent. So, for me to make all my travel dreams come true while flying from Brazil, I would not only have to be rich but also have all the time off in the world.
So, living abroad will certainly “erase” this big problem. In a way that will allow you to be in a place that is privileged geographically, or in a place where you are able to explore in one go.
Now that I’m living in Ireland, I’m one hour away from any country in the UK, I’m less than two hours away from pretty much most countries in Europe. That makes traveling a lot easier, cheaper, and less stressful.
3- You will evolve a lot more as a person
I have changed so much ever since I lived in the U.S. While in Ireland, I have changed so much as well. And all this change didn’t happen because America or Ireland operated a miracle in me. I have changed because that’s what happens when you live abroad. You get to evolve so much as a person, and that is for sure the most beautiful thing about living in a foreign country.
We live so intensively every day of our lives. Days feel like years and years feel like days. So much can happen, and that can overwhelmingly change you and your perspective on life as a whole. You start to see things in a way you never did before. You start questioning yourself more, and you start to learn that life doesn’t have to happen in the old way anymore.
The first change that happens is the fact you learn to become a completely independent person. I’ve always been very independent in my life. But when I moved to the U.S. I learned to become even more independent. When you’re on your own, you learn to gather the tools you need to survive life without having to depend on anything you could rely on back home. You don’t have any other choice but to do things. No one will speak the language for you, no one will cook for you, and no one will find a place for you to stay, let alone a job. You’re on your own, and that hits differently. That’s why when you’re abroad, independence isn’t a choice, it’s an obligation.
The second change that happens to you when you live abroad is a change in your mindset. You truly start to see everything differently. And when I say everything, I mean it. You start to see friendship, the purpose of your life, and your interests in an entirely different way. It’s an endless list of things. Everything has a different feeling and definition for you, and this is so powerful.
Some of the lessons I’ve learned have been the true value of friendship, love, relationships, career, and most importantly, the value of the small decisions I make every day of my life. Everything you go through teaches you a new lesson.
2- You will have the chance to learn a new language or to improve your foreign language skills
From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, I mostly speak English. Everywhere I go here in Ireland I will be speaking English. When I see most of my friends I will speak English. When I take my classes I only speak English.
Now, how do you think I have progressed since I arrived, knowing that English is my second language? Portuguese is my native language, so for me, being able to live in an English-speaking country really helps me master the language in a better way.
Learning to speak foreign languages has nothing to do with talent. It’s a skill. It’s a skill like every other. It’s like cooking, driving, and swimming. You may be born with a passion for it, but no one is born with a divine talent that makes them good at speaking foreign languages. And like every other skill, the more you do it, the better you become at it.
Plus, language is culture. It’s not a set of grammar rules that you have to memorize. And you can only understand culture by living and experiencing it. I had a pretty advanced level of English before living in an English-speaking country, but I only became fluent after I was able to use it in context. Before, I had learned it from books, TV shows, movies, and music. These things taught me so much, but what allowed me to contextualize and master every single aspect of speaking English fluently was the fact that I moved to an English-speaking country. I know it’s very controversial the conversation that it’s possible to learn any foreign language without having to move to a foreign country. I agree with that. But as I said before, reaching a conversational level of whatever language you’re learning is one thing. Being fluent is something completely different.
Learning how to say “How are you?” is what happens when you’re in your home country. However, knowing that when you ask somebody “How are you?” has nothing to do with being interested in knowing how the person is really doing is the wisdom you only get when you move abroad. Certain things are just not taught. They are exposed to you. You can’t teach culture. You have to experience it yourself.
It feels amazing when you’re speaking a foreign language. It’s like a battle you fight every time you open your mouth. And when you produce language, you feel like a champion. It’s a great feeling. I knew that staying in Brazil would limit me to opportunities for speaking English. So being here feels pretty cool.
So if you’re thinking about learning a new language, or if you’re thinking about taking your language skills to another level, you must have the experience of living abroad at least once in your lifetime. You will see how much progress you will have.
1- You will get to make so many new friends from all over the world
One of the best things that happened to me was the fact that I met some of the most incredible people from all around the world. And I didn’t only have the chance to meet them, but I became friends with so many of them.
There’s a Brazilian saying that says: “The largest Brazilian community is located in Brazil.” It means that Brazil is not very multicultural today. It’s not as easy to find people from all over the world in Brazil as it is to find them in the United States and in so many European countries.
It fascinated me when I came across these amazing people from so many parts of the globe. They soon became my family. I would have never imagined that I’d be friends with people from Germany, Italy, China, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and so many other nationalities.
When you meet people from other countries, you learn and grow so much. You get to see life from a whole different perspective, and this is something that can truly change who you are. Their traditions, customs, and lifestyles show you that life is like art. It doesn’t have to be in one way only. It can be expressed in various ways, and that is the beauty of it.
Today when I think of a certain country, such as Mexico, England, or Australia, I won’t think of the world map or the photos I’ve seen on the Internet. I’ll think of the people I met who are from these countries. What will come to my mind are the stories, and the things I learned about their culture. This only happens today because I’ve been able to meet so many people from over 20 different nationalities.
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