Creating a Home Away From Home Abroad: A 3-Part Guide
This is the third time I am starting from scratch in a foreign country, and this whole moving abroad/creating a home somewhere new is starting to feel oddly familiar. Each time, it brings with it excitement and challenges demanding to be conquered. I figured I'd write a how-to guide about it, combining the experiences I had moving to Munich for my junior year, moving there again two years later to find work, and, most recently (less than a week ago), moving to Austria for a Fulbright grant. I hope readers find this guide humorous and helpful.
1. Before you leave: Pack comforts from home. These will comfort you when you have the fairly inevitable break-down, in which you question what the heck you are doing leaving your comfortable life for a year. (By the way, when this does happen, follow it with a long, hot shower. It is cathartic.) Such items may include: stuffed animals you have had since you were a child (it’s okay, the TSA people won’t judge); printed photos of your friends and family (having them on your smartphone doesn’t count – you can’t spread them out across your bed that initially lacks linens and stare at them longingly); your favorite portable, non-perishable food item from home (all natural, smooth Teddie peanut butter, for example); your favorite baking supplies/tools (ingredients like chocolate chips and brown sugar that you turn into cookies at some point will make you popular not only with yourself but also potential friends you make in your new country).*
*Note from most recent experience: If you really care about having these items, keep them on your person at all times. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, put them in your checked baggage. Generally, these are the items that you want to have in your arms when your airline loses your baggage (both pieces), not ones you want trapped in said lost baggage. (It’s been a tough past week without my beloved stuffed bunny rabbit Ears).
2. As soon as you arrive: Furnish your apartment asap. Take inventory of what you have. Is your place already fully furnished? Yay, good for you. If not, it’s time to go shopping. Check out flea markets in your town before going to Ikea or another department store. You can usually find some fun, cheap, unique mugs, plates, small furniture, etc. at them, and you won’t feel bad about having to part with them – or the money you spent on them – after a year. Once you get those things back home, decide what you need before The Ikea Trip. (If you arrived mid-week, save the flea market trip for the weekend, go straight to Ikea. Do not pass go.). Take measurements of what you need in advance, or just sheepishly look up the measurements of a European twin-sized bed on your phone right after an old man looking for something in the store asks you if you work there. “Nope, definitely not!” was certainly the right answer in this case. What should you wear for The Ikea Trip? Comfy clothing you are prepared to carry a lot in via public transportation. This is tricky, because full-blown athletic wear will make you stand out more than the huge, blue Ikea tarp bag you will be toting home with you will. If you’re doing this trip at the right time, which is ideally very soon after arriving in your new country, you probably don’t have much food in your pantry yet. Seems problematic, because you don’t want to tackle the monstrous maze that is Ikea on an empty, time-zone-confused stomach, do you? I sure wouldn’t. Never fear: Ikea serves breakfast. For real cheap. Take advantage of this. It’s a necessary step, like filling your car up with gas before a long drive. If they say they have stopped serving breakfast when you hopefully ask for eggs at 10:40, be persistent and ask if they’re sure they’re really out of them. You might have luck like me and get one. Oh, and if there’s no more strawberry jam out for the bread you found, ask the same nice person who got you the last egg. With any luck they’ll go into their industrial fridge and grab one just for you. Check out, take your time, enjoy the meal, and relax. Only once the coffee kicks in are you ready to get shopping. Grab a cart – you’ll need it even if you think you don’t – and start crossing things off that list. When it’s time to check out, don’t be surprised if it adds up to more than you thought it would. It’s okay. These are things you need. You made that list. Trust the list. Trust that these items will make you feel at home and remember you will be using them for a whole year. Once you get that stuff home – or on the way home, if you’re bold/energetic/not weighed down enough for your liking – stop and get the following household supplies that you will want when cleaning and setting up your room: laundry detergent, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, tissues, soap (dish soap, hand soap, shampoo, etc.), tape, scissors, stick-on hooks for your wall, and anything else that seems relevant.
The trick here is to get this all done before getting hungry again and, once home, treat yourself to a big celebratory meal (it’s okay if it’s simply made from the only food you managed to buy so far), and take some deep breaths that refuel your brain as you refuel your belly before the unpacking frenzy. This part of the process is almost as fun as Christmas, except you have you play with all your toys – aka set up all this stuff – asap. No dilly dallying. Just channel your inner 5-year-old that opened and played with and maybe even already got tired of everything they opened on Christmas morning within 2 hours, and you’ll be killing the setting-up-your-new-life thing.
3. When you’re physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from all this (this step is one that is easily forgotten, but must not be, as it is perhaps most important): Once all your new sheets are freshly washed and dried (warning, this may take more than a few hours if you don’t have a dryer in your apartment), all Ikea boxes are unpacked and your furniture assembled, and you finally flop down on your bed, initially tossing and turning to figure out how to get comfortable on this new sleeping surface, take a moment to congratulate yourself for all you – yes you, you jet-legged, ambitious, traveler you – have accomplished. Hopefully, you’re feeling somewhat okay about your decision to live abroad for a year in your newly homey home, and, if nothing else, you can take comfort in the cinnamon- and vanilla-scented candles you have burning as you snuggle your stuffed animal and momentarily forget about the stress of moving countries and all the registration paperwork that remains to be done.
1. Before you leave: Pack comforts from home. These will comfort you when you have the fairly inevitable break-down, in which you question what the heck you are doing leaving your comfortable life for a year. (By the way, when this does happen, follow it with a long, hot shower. It is cathartic.) Such items may include: stuffed animals you have had since you were a child (it’s okay, the TSA people won’t judge); printed photos of your friends and family (having them on your smartphone doesn’t count – you can’t spread them out across your bed that initially lacks linens and stare at them longingly); your favorite portable, non-perishable food item from home (all natural, smooth Teddie peanut butter, for example); your favorite baking supplies/tools (ingredients like chocolate chips and brown sugar that you turn into cookies at some point will make you popular not only with yourself but also potential friends you make in your new country).*
*Note from most recent experience: If you really care about having these items, keep them on your person at all times. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, put them in your checked baggage. Generally, these are the items that you want to have in your arms when your airline loses your baggage (both pieces), not ones you want trapped in said lost baggage. (It’s been a tough past week without my beloved stuffed bunny rabbit Ears).
2. As soon as you arrive: Furnish your apartment asap. Take inventory of what you have. Is your place already fully furnished? Yay, good for you. If not, it’s time to go shopping. Check out flea markets in your town before going to Ikea or another department store. You can usually find some fun, cheap, unique mugs, plates, small furniture, etc. at them, and you won’t feel bad about having to part with them – or the money you spent on them – after a year. Once you get those things back home, decide what you need before The Ikea Trip. (If you arrived mid-week, save the flea market trip for the weekend, go straight to Ikea. Do not pass go.). Take measurements of what you need in advance, or just sheepishly look up the measurements of a European twin-sized bed on your phone right after an old man looking for something in the store asks you if you work there. “Nope, definitely not!” was certainly the right answer in this case. What should you wear for The Ikea Trip? Comfy clothing you are prepared to carry a lot in via public transportation. This is tricky, because full-blown athletic wear will make you stand out more than the huge, blue Ikea tarp bag you will be toting home with you will. If you’re doing this trip at the right time, which is ideally very soon after arriving in your new country, you probably don’t have much food in your pantry yet. Seems problematic, because you don’t want to tackle the monstrous maze that is Ikea on an empty, time-zone-confused stomach, do you? I sure wouldn’t. Never fear: Ikea serves breakfast. For real cheap. Take advantage of this. It’s a necessary step, like filling your car up with gas before a long drive. If they say they have stopped serving breakfast when you hopefully ask for eggs at 10:40, be persistent and ask if they’re sure they’re really out of them. You might have luck like me and get one. Oh, and if there’s no more strawberry jam out for the bread you found, ask the same nice person who got you the last egg. With any luck they’ll go into their industrial fridge and grab one just for you. Check out, take your time, enjoy the meal, and relax. Only once the coffee kicks in are you ready to get shopping. Grab a cart – you’ll need it even if you think you don’t – and start crossing things off that list. When it’s time to check out, don’t be surprised if it adds up to more than you thought it would. It’s okay. These are things you need. You made that list. Trust the list. Trust that these items will make you feel at home and remember you will be using them for a whole year. Once you get that stuff home – or on the way home, if you’re bold/energetic/not weighed down enough for your liking – stop and get the following household supplies that you will want when cleaning and setting up your room: laundry detergent, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, tissues, soap (dish soap, hand soap, shampoo, etc.), tape, scissors, stick-on hooks for your wall, and anything else that seems relevant.
The trick here is to get this all done before getting hungry again and, once home, treat yourself to a big celebratory meal (it’s okay if it’s simply made from the only food you managed to buy so far), and take some deep breaths that refuel your brain as you refuel your belly before the unpacking frenzy. This part of the process is almost as fun as Christmas, except you have you play with all your toys – aka set up all this stuff – asap. No dilly dallying. Just channel your inner 5-year-old that opened and played with and maybe even already got tired of everything they opened on Christmas morning within 2 hours, and you’ll be killing the setting-up-your-new-life thing.
3. When you’re physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from all this (this step is one that is easily forgotten, but must not be, as it is perhaps most important): Once all your new sheets are freshly washed and dried (warning, this may take more than a few hours if you don’t have a dryer in your apartment), all Ikea boxes are unpacked and your furniture assembled, and you finally flop down on your bed, initially tossing and turning to figure out how to get comfortable on this new sleeping surface, take a moment to congratulate yourself for all you – yes you, you jet-legged, ambitious, traveler you – have accomplished. Hopefully, you’re feeling somewhat okay about your decision to live abroad for a year in your newly homey home, and, if nothing else, you can take comfort in the cinnamon- and vanilla-scented candles you have burning as you snuggle your stuffed animal and momentarily forget about the stress of moving countries and all the registration paperwork that remains to be done.
P.S. Go food shopping when you wake up. It’s important, too.
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