Hi there, welcome to my blog! In this article I’ll tell you about the emotional challenges of migrating to a foreign country, notably the United States.
I think we’ve always heard about the United States and mostly from our friends and relatives living there. We always see movies, pictures, videos, but does what we hear and see correspond to reality?
It’s already been two years since I live in the United States. I moved to the States because I got married and my husband lives here.
There are a lot of difficulties before and after moving to the USA. But if no one and nothing forces you, you treat everything in a rational way.
Sure, it’s hard to leave your family, friends, work, life and everything behind and put your clothes and your life in a travel bag and start a new life in a new country.
Emotional challenges of moving to United States
We’ve always heard about the United States mostly from our friends and relatives living there. We always see movies, pictures, and videos, but does what we hear and see correspond to reality?
The first shock was the feeling of not being present in my country, if I may call it that way. It was critical for me to know, for example, what was going on at home, especially a few years back. I recall being quite confused on the first day I arrived in my new home. I kept wondering, what is my family doing now? What about my friends? My job? My life was dramatically being changed. I value many things now that I previously took for granted.
People will never talk about it because it is tough to admit that you are alone, but you have nothing but yourself, your thoughts, your emotions, the power to conquer huge challenges, and the steps to build a new life. I know I can sound extreme sometimes, but we all have great hopes and expectations for something new that doesn’t always match reality, which can break us.
I’m not disappointed; on the contrary, I’m happy and in excellent spirits. I will certainly tell you about some of my favorite things to do in the United States.
The mental and cultural differences are one of the first challenges. Communication, morals, lifestyle, and as Americans love to say “taking everything easy.”
It’s also difficult to accept that you don’t have a job. We know that the United States is the land of opportunity. We always assume that everything will be simple as soon as we arrive. However, when it comes to starting a profession from the ground up, this is one of the most discouraging factors.
It was a bit hard for me before I came here. All I’ve heard about the USA was – there is no communication. If you have no car, you are going to get stuck in your place. No buses, subways, and you can’t take a taxi. No one has free time, work – home.
It’s hard to hear these words and after that leave your active life behind and move to the States.
If you could only see how hard I cried in the airplane. My number one advice is to never listen to people who had a bad experience and never have high hopes.
It’s just a normal life here.
USA: first impression
I remember it very well. It was my second day here, we went to Hollywood for a walk and I got a compliment from a random person about my coat and my hat.
I went to Barnes and Nobles alone for the first time and there was a girl who approached me and asked where I got my purse, asked where i came from and told her my story. What I want to say is, people here are mostly open-hearted, they love to show their emotions and reactions. They feel free to compliment strangers. You can also feel free to smile to someone on the street and get a welcoming smile back.
Streets here are clean compared to our streets in Armenia. Although there are a lot of restaurants and dining options, you can’t find our beautiful, well loved cafes outside. Being a huge fan of taking my laptop and going somewhere beautiful to work, it was really disappointing for me.
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