So uhm has anyone here ever moved abroad by themselves? And by any chance to a much smaller town?
I feel like I'm about to commit social su*cide 🥲 #moveabroad
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@Gina I've only moved up in size. 15k Dutch village to 50k Norwegian city to 12+ million London. It's still not easy. Knowing folks in places helps.
@Gina
About to do the same...
I moved from Copenhagen (c.1Mn) to Venice (60k) almost twenty years ago.
Already knew the language and Italian culture well, which helped.
Never hung out with other Danes or foreigners. My friends are almost all locals.
Got married, so I'm stuck. Still here.
@Gina Not to pry, Gina, but the country and state and maybe the county all contribute context needed for an accurate answer to the "is this new place a social vacuum?" question.
@ottomate true, I would move from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to a small town on the costa brava in the north-east of Spain. 30 min from Girona and 1.5 hrs from Barcelona.
@Gina the hardest days are the first ones, until your get you balance, your space, your comfort zone, your happiness.
It will come, with time, for me personally I don't care were I'm at, i just need my wife, my daughters, my cats.
Miss them every day.
@PMFL my cats are currently waiting at my front door for me 😭😭
True, #pookieandwessie will have to come with. And then I need to find community somewhere.
@Gina yeah, three times. You'll meet new people in time. But you'll leave everything behind. If there's much you value more than the weather, it's probably better not to move.
Yes. It was shocking at the beginning. I was lonely. Than I met colleagues who integrated me in their social life and I understood that social life and rhythms are often different. We have to figure out the local usances.
@Gina I moved from Los Angeles to rural west Donegal. But since I play trad fiddle and had visited here for years, I already had a social network in the area.
If you don't already have group-oriented hobbies like choirs or similar, you should adopt some.
@hyc I just found out I can take helicopter lessons here, so who knows what sort of social network comes from that 😂
No but seriously, I'll need to find some bouldering/yoga/tech people.
@Gina yeah, whatever you're into, finding comrades there will make all the difference. A small community like this can get very lonely if you don't know anyone or the local pastimes.
@Gina do you speak Spanish or Catalan? I'd say it's easier to make friends over there than in the Netherlands but English is not super common outside of the bigger cities (maybe except for tourist/expat overrun towns like Lloret, Malgrat, etc. and I wouldn't want to live there).
@Rovellat I speak a bit of Spanish, but definitely need to improve to have fluent conversations. Catalan is a whole different story.
I did order my food in Spanish just now, so I got that going for me I guess 🥲
@Gina Check if your Town Hall organizes Catalan/Spanish courses or practice groups. Many do and it's a good way to meet new people!
Also maybe see if there's road cycling/mountain biking groups if you like that. They usually meet on the weekends to tour and stop somewhere for breakfast or lunch. It's a great way to do sport, make friends and discover places to eat.
But yeah Girona is a small and quiet city, more so coming from Amsterdam. 😊
Bona Sort!
The internet moves with you. And the daily business will lead you to regularly meet the same baker, fishmonger, café owner, cashier, someone walking a dog, ...
@Gina not abroad but might have as well been, I moved to Kampen and lived there for a year, and even though I travelled out of Kampen a lot I felt super miserable for all the time I was there. Make sure the place (city or town) you move to is one you feel connected with spiritually and you feel good there
@Gina I moved from a 10mm city to a 5k town across an ocean. Does that qualify?
@lalalasombra absolutely! How did that go? How long did you end up staying?
@Gina Stayed for 7 years and am moving again sometime next month. Won’t be moving countries again though 😅
@Gina Pretty sure this is a Hallmark Channel Movie.
