My advice is the same, but my timeline very different. The hardest moment was a couple of days in. I didn’t have friends or hobbies or knowledge of the place yet, a lot of time on my hands and I was staring down being away from home “for ever”. Then the ball got rolling on my social life and I found my tempo.
Other advice: make learning the local language an absolute priority if you don’t know it yet. Also because language courses are a great place to meet your first local friends.
One thing I’ll add is that no matter where you move, snooty people with their noses in the air will look down on the idea of the expat community from your country of origin, and while you should ABSOLUTELY not make them your main social connection or use them as a crutch to replace immersing yourself in your new country, there is a reason these communities form - they provide social support and connection while you slowly build up an entire new identity and social community.
My advice is the same, but my timeline very different. The hardest moment was a couple of days in. I didn’t have friends or hobbies or knowledge of the place yet, a lot of time on my hands and I was staring down being away from home “for ever”. Then the ball got rolling on my social life and I found my tempo.
Other advice: make learning the local language an absolute priority if you don’t know it yet. Also because language courses are a great place to meet your first local friends.
One thing I’ll add is that no matter where you move, snooty people with their noses in the air will look down on the idea of the expat community from your country of origin, and while you should ABSOLUTELY not make them your main social connection or use them as a crutch to replace immersing yourself in your new country, there is a reason these communities form - they provide social support and connection while you slowly build up an entire new identity and social community.