March 16, 2015

How to survive working abroad

From jobs and friendships to routines, languages and even the climate, a lot of things change when you move abroad and with migration from the UK on the rise, how do people survive? The most challenging thing for me when I’ve worked abroad has been the homesickness. It usually strikes when I’ve been busy working, too busy to socialise, and feel alone and lost, wondering why I ever left home in the first place. A run, call home or check on Facebook later ,it’s passed and I can go back to enjoying myself.

But what about those people who’ve been away for much longer than the summers and year-long trip I’ve spent abroad? Alicia Henry moved to Nigeria to teach for two years after visiting on holiday – four years later and she’s still there!

“I remember speaking to someone about teaching in Nigeria,” she says, “and he swiftly imformed me that ‘my reward would be in heaven’.  Irrespectve of this I enjoy the weather, culture, dress, lifestyle, music, spirit and drive of the people and of course my job.  I must say I get job satisfaction daily which means my reward will not only be in heaven!”

Alicia insists that she’s been lucky with making new friends, finding the people of Nigeria warm and friendly, however she did do a few things to ensure she met new people and created a new life for herself abroad:

“Prior to moving to Nigeria a few of my friends who had Nigerian friends based in Nigeria linked us up on social media etc and we built relationships from there, I joined a netball team, I joined the gym at The Hilton which also had lots of other things going on, I linked up with other expats, invited my friends from the UK to visit and explore with me, kept a look out for various shows and events and weekends!” So if you ever needed an excuse to get fit, go exploring or go out every weekend, there’s one right here!

And for those times when the only thing that’ll help is a call home, there are loads of ways to do so, from WhatsApp to Skype, to having credit on your phone and taking regular trips home, as Alicia does.

The opportunity to live and work abroad is an exciting one. It builds you as a person, gives you the chance to prove to yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to and broadens your horizons more than a week in Spain every year will do. So despite the challenges, worries and doubts around moving abroad, Alicia sums it up perfectly as she says “the best advice was from the people who said, ‘JUST GO!’ It reassured me that I was making the right decision.  It has been one of the best choices I have made to date”. So there you have it: just go!

Written by Stephanie Bolton. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieBolton

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