Nowadays, a lot of people wonder how they can easily move their life abroad, just totally change everything. Honestly, it can make sense, you see Emily in Paris, you see TikTokers and YouTubers bring it up, theres move than enough other shows and movies that do it too. Oh, and even on the CNBC Make It series, they bring it up on there all the time that people’s lives have improved the second they move to another country. But yeah, in general, theres this aesthetic, theres this appeal, and people romanticize it a lot.
But real life isn’t this cute cinematic thing; it’s very rarely as cute and as glamorous as people like to make it out to be. No, moving abroad isn’t bad, but it’s just not as cute as it gets portrayed. Basically, you need to take off the rose-tinted glasses.
Just Stop Romanticising How “Spontaneous” it Is
And this one really needs to go. Moving abroad is many things, but spontaneous usually isn’t one of them unless somebody enjoys chaos in the least fun sense of the word. No, really, just keep in mind here there’s documents, timelines, deadlines, forms, fees, appointments, and all sorts of tiny irritating details that don’t care how exciting the move looks on Instagram. Seriously, it’s not fun, it’s expensive, it’s stressful, and sometimes you still don’t even get a visa like you intended to get, or it’s a shorter stay than you intended, things like that.
Plus, it’s not just booking a flight and picking a neighbourhood with charming balconies. It’s sorting what’s going, what’s staying, what’s getting sold, what’s worth shipping, and how on earth it’s all meant to get from one country to another without turning into a giant, expensive headache. Sure, you should get some help, like you can hire a removals company to help you out, you can hire a lawyer for the visa process, or you can hire people. But of course, that means you need the money for all of those (and sometimes you literally have no choice but to spend the money too).
It’s Time to Stop Romanticising the “Fresh Start” Bit
For starters, you can have a fresh start in the same town you’re living in, the next village over, a couple of hours away from your hometown, so you don’t need to move to a whole new country for a fresh start. Unless most of the people living in your area know who you are, there’s literally no reason to focus on a fresh start and getting away.
But on top of that, a fresh start sounds lovely until it starts asking for passwords, utility set-up, tax information, proof of address, and fifteen forms of identification nobody’s got on them at the exact moment they’re needed. Sure, some of this is needed even if you’re moving just a house away, but a whole new country means more stress, and a lot more work during the early stages, too.
Maybe Stop Romanticising How Stylish it All Looks
Well, this goes back to social media, and well, media in general, and how they portray it all. So, a lot of moving-abroad content looks like somebody casually arrived with one tasteful suitcase and a trench coat, then floated into a beautiful flat with no effort at all. But that’s just media for you, because unless you’re rich, you’re starting from scratch, as in a small suitcase with some clothes, no curtains, no bedding, buying everything from IKEA, so then your home looks like an IKEA showroom, so not really all that ideal here.
While Emily in Paris shows her making friends easily, it can honestly be hard to make friends at first, be it locals or other expats (and other expats move all the time, so that gets lonely too). These are things you don’t see, let alone even know, until you experience them.
