two weeks until I move abroad and my brain has already left before I have
Posted by Art3mis_ak@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 7 comments
I’m exactly 14 days away from moving overseas, and I didn’t expect this part to feel so… weird.
The stressful stuff is mostly done, visa approved, flights booked, boxes everywhere, but now I’m in this in-between stage where life doesn’t feel fully “here” anymore, but I’m obviously not there yet either. My apartment looks like a storage unit and I keep finding random things I forgot I owned while packing. I’ve been trying to avoid falling into the doomscrolling trap, so lately I’ve been doing little things to keep my brain occupied. A bit of language practice, watching videos about the city I’m moving to, making unnecessarily detailed packing lists, reorganizing things I already packed for no reason… honestly anything to make time move faster. For people who’ve moved abroad before: what did your final couple weeks look like? Were you super productive, emotional, restless, excited? I feel like I’m rotating through all four every few hours.
EntranceMaster8099@reddit
that in-between fog is real. built a moving planner for this, tasks checklist packing tracker and timeline all visible in one place. keeps you from forgetting stuff while your head is already gone. its on etsy if you want to check it out.
JaneInSoCal@reddit
Super busy, until I wasn’t. Then I played lots of video games and binged some shows I knew weren’t going to be in my destination country lol
fertthrowaway@reddit
I think it's natural to try to detach yourself at this phase from where you are and think to the future. You will need to just leave.
I felt sad about the things I would miss, like watching the fog river flowing at night and the smell of the air (well, it was Bay Area of California 😪), sitting in the sun in my yard, etc. So while I tried to take it in the last weeks, I also needed to start to detach from it. Easier if you don't like much anything about where you're living. I wasn't excited about where I was going either though, since I already lived there before and knew all the hassles and stress awaiting me. On the flip side, I had almost no homesickness because this was just going back to a prior home, but that will definitely hit you the first time, as it did me.
bprofaneV@reddit
Goodbye parties and doing fuck all at work. A heady time. Everything feels like the "last time". And after moving abroad, an event that permanently changes your perspective, it kind of will be. Even if you move back. But that change is huge and it can be very exciting and challenging. The process of change and adaptability is very important to understand about yourself. Your first 6 months will be great. Then you should prepare youself for some second thoughts. Questioning your decision. Just keep pushing through it. Once on the other side, it feels great.
machine-conservator@reddit
It suuuucked. Super busy, super stressful, last minute jitters trying to creep in... But then it was over!
berlin_latelyy@reddit
Moved from Toronto to Berlin for my partner. I remember those last two weeks being a mix of me being hyper-productive when it comes to admin stuff and randomly feeling emotional/sentimental. There was too much paperwork to prepare, mainly for my registration + insurance, but also figuring out other things like keeping documents & medical records, reading about insurance options, arranging my short break from my remote job. So yeah there was def this weird limbo feeling. I just had a master document of everything I needed in the first month just so my brain could sort itself out, haha. But also, just give yourself the time and space to be emotional about it, it's totally common.
owzleee@reddit
We moved from London to Buenos Aires for my job and honestly it was soooo stressful (especially as they 'forgot' to send our shipping container so we had to rent nasty furniture for 3 months). The packing is very stressful - you're living in a kind of Twighlight Zone for a while. Then the unpacking (once you have found a decent apartment). Then the cultural adjustments. I'd still do it again, given the chance, but I think it's like childbirth - you forget just how bad it is.