Getting Settled Abroad

You’ve arrived! All that planning paid off, and you’re officially an expat (at least temporarily.) So now what? To work abroad successfully, you need to go beneath the vacationer’s veneer and learn to live like a local.

That means you need more than your backpack and a bunk in a dorm; you need permanent accommodation, a job, means to get around, and maybe even a social life. Some of these factors may be taken care of already. Again, the plusses of teaching English abroad> for a school or working through an au pair agency include a much easier transition abroad and a lot less pounding the streets. On the flip side, you won’t be able to choose your lodging or pick your roommates. Once more, it’s all about your comfort zone and your preferences, and should be carefully considered before you arrive.

If you’re starting from scratch, the job and apartment will probably come first. This is somewhat of a chicken-and-egg scenario: Do you find a flat that you love, then look for work in that area? Or do you get a job, then start looking for somewhere to live? Hard to say. Decide which is your top priority, investigate different neighborhoods, suss out your price range and go from there.