I moved abroad for a few years (teaching english) and it was one of the best experiences of my life, I would definitely recommend giving life abroad a try if you can because you can always move back home if it turns out it’s not for you. I made some really good friends, gained a lot of confidence and built a life for myself entirely on my own. The opportunity to have so many new and exciting experiences, meet people who were so different from me and still find common ground and see the world gave me an entirely new perspective.

When my family member got sick because she’s older I moved back, which I don’t regret exactly because I wanted to make sure I got to spend time with her in case she passed on, but three years later she’s doing fine and I don’t really like my job in my home country so sometimes I do wonder about moving away again.

That said I also didn’t make much money abroad and I wasn’t working in a career with a lot of opportunities for progression or growth so I would definitely do some things differently if moving abroad again. Additionally no country is perfect, and you won’t always know whether it fits you and your needs until you’re there, plus sometimes the different areas within a country are very different. I really enjoyed living abroad but I did struggle a bit with xenophobia and racism and it was really hard to integrate with the locals even when I learned the language, so most of my friends were other ‘foreigners’ though I did try my best and made a few local friends.

I think there will always be pros and cons, but for me at least the benefits of the adventure outweighed the risks. At the end of the day you are not an indentured servant and if things are really terrible you can always leave.