Relocating abroad is often painted as the ultimate dream of a new country, better opportunities, and a fresh start. Instagram posts show smiling faces in picturesque cities, while family and friends may admire your “bravery” and talk about your “new life.” But behind the glossy exterior lies a complex reality few people discuss.
Here’s the truth nobody tells you about moving to another country.
1. The emotional rollercoaster
At first, everything feels exciting with the novelty of your surroundings, new customs, and unfamiliar accents. But this honeymoon phase doesn’t last. Eventually, homesickness creeps in. You miss your local food, your mother’s voice and the comfort of understanding cultural cues. You may begin to feel like an outsider, even if you speak the language fluently.
What many don’t realise is that starting afresh doesn’t mean wiping your emotional slate clean. Your baggage, emotional or otherwise, follows you.
2. Making friends isn’t always easy
You think it’ll be simple. You’ll join a few groups, smile at strangers, and friendships will blossom. But in reality, most locals already have their circles, and fellow expats are often just as transient as you are. Relationships take time and effort to build, and in a new country, it can feel like dating again: awkward, exhausting, and uncertain.
3. The paperwork never ends
Before you move, there’s the visa. After you move, there are residency permits, bank accounts, insurance, tax registration, and possibly language requirements. You’ll learn very quickly that bureaucracy knows no borders. And worse, no one gives you a handbook. You often rely on forums, kind strangers, or your painful trial and error.
4. Money disappears faster than you think
Even if you’re relocating for a job, the cost of setting up your life abroad is steep. Rent deposits, transport passes, phone contracts, health insurance, and household items add up. Currency exchange rates can work against you. And if you’re sending money back home, you’re constantly doing mental maths and feeling like you’re living two financial lives.
5. You might question your decision
There will be moments, probably more than you expect, when you ask yourself, “Why did I do this?” The glamour wears off when loneliness hits or when things don’t go as planned. You may find yourself stuck between identities when you are no longer fully at home in your country of origin, yet still not completely settled in your new one.
This feeling of cultural limbo can linger for years.
6. You Will Grow in Ways You Didn’t Expect
The flip side? Relocating abroad challenges you. It forces you to adapt, reinvent yourself, and become resourceful. You’ll learn to celebrate small wins, finding your favourite bread at the local shop, understanding a joke in a different language, or navigating public transport without Google Maps.
You become stronger, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
Relocating abroad is not a magic fix for your problems, and it’s certainly not always the idyllic escape it’s made out to be. It is hard, often lonely, and sometimes disheartening. But it is also enriching, eye-opening, and transformational.
The truth is, it’s both beautiful and brutal. And perhaps that’s what makes it worth it.