What Nobody Tells You About Living Abroad | The Truth About Moving Abroad...

okay now let's talk about something a little bit  more personal because I have moved five times oh  

Veronica you don't speak Spanish oh Veronica  you don't understand anything so pick sixteen  

thousand dollars is insane hello guys and welcome  back to my YouTube channel this video is going to  

be very special to me and I really hope this  video will bring a lot of value to you guys I  

want to talk about moving moving to a different  country because I have moved five times first  

I moved from Moscow to New York then from New  York to Kiev then from Kiev to Istanbul then  

from Istanbul back to Moscow and then from Moscow  to Mexico City I will try to be as transparent as  

possible I will share my whole experience I will  share all the problems I had to deal with and the  

things I did to overcome the those problems so  let's begin with the first one okay so the first  

problem I had to deal with is feeling dumb  for not understanding the language and guys  

it's totally okay I just want this video to be a  reminder to every single one of you that whatever  

it is you're going through especially when you  are moving to a new place it's totally okay yes  

I do feel dumb sometimes for not understanding  Spanish because I have never studied Spanish  

before and when I moved to Mexico I realized that  I really do need Spanish if I want to live here  

for a very long time I can speak Russian which  is my native language I can speak English and I  

can speak a little bit of Chinese because the  status Chinese in college but not Spanish I'm  

always reminded that oh Veronica you don't speak  Spanish oh Veronica you don't understand anything  

so here's guess what I did and what I'm still  doing to help myself feel at least a little bit  

better better so first obviously you have to learn  the language if you're uncomfortable with feeling  

dumb with feeling like you don't understand  anything it's all in your power you have to  

sit down and start learning but I really do know  guys sometimes we don't have time and that's why  

what I do is I basically structure my schedule  based on my Spanish classes so here's the week  

you know from Monday to Sunday and I will be doing  Spanish for example on Saturday at 2PM and I just  

block this time out so this time I am sure I will  be studying Spanish and this is something that I  

think is helping me a lot to stay consistent while  learning Spanish the second thing you can do is  

for example you can ask your friends who speak  this language especially if this is their native  

language to help you because when you're meeting  up with those friends you can always ask them oh  

how do you say a tree in this language or oh how  do you say a car in this language and this is a  

very good way to learn and also guys I think one  thing that a lot of people really struggle with is  

using Google translate I know it will make you  feel even dumber sometimes when you don't know  

how to say something and you have to be like okay  Google how do you say this in reality this is the  

only way out sometimes the only way to establish  communication to understand someone is by using  

Google translate and what is even better is that  you have all your search history and you can go  

back home when you're studying the language you  can see aha so I didn't know how to save this now  

I have to memorize it okay let's now move on to  the second thing I had to struggle with a lot and  

it's all about missing my family and my friends  my family they all live in Russia and there's a  

nine hour difference between Mexico and Russia so  it's completely natural for me to feel like I'm  

not really connecting with them they're living  their own lives they're experiencing their your  

own things and I'm here all by myself and there is  no one who can help me but in those moments when  

I feel very sad and depressed and anxious what  I always try to do is first I try to schedule a  

call with my family every single week for example  I talk to my parents my mom my dad my sister and  

my brother every Sunday we have a call scheduled  like everyone knows about it at a specific time we  

all join in and we all talk about everything that  has happened you know the week before also you can  

play some online games I really like playing  online board games with my family because this  

is something that can connect us even more when  we don't really have any exciting news to share  

with everyone we could just play a game but guys  I do understand that like real person to person  

communication and like physical contact when you  get to hug your family members when you get to  

be close to them it's um it's hard to replace I  really really understand it and I really support  

you here so if it's possible you can obviously go  to your home country visit your family or you can  

invite them here unfortunately for me it's not  really possible because one plane ticket from  

Russia to Mexico right now costs around four  thousand dollars yep just for one person there  

and back and I have my mom my dad my sister and  my brother so Pig sixteen thousand dollars is  

insane it is insane and obviously it's making  me very sad and anxious and depressed sometimes  

and obviously have your calls like talk to your  family for an hour or two hours if you feel like  

it it's totally fine because connecting with the  people we love is super important the next thing  

I really had to struggle with is questioning my  decision to move here and it was especially true  

when I first moved to Mexico City it was like  March and in Russia it was like still super  

cold but here was really steady so obviously that  was making me really happy but I was very lonely  

I was completely alone I didn't know anyone and  I was constantly asking myself Veronica was this  

the right choice and this question of whether  or not it's the right choice was really really  

hurting me and guys here what I did is creating a  list of rows of living in Mexico City versus pros  

of living in Russia and then another list of cons  of living in Mexico City versus cons of living in  

Russia and I realized yeah my decision to move to  Mexico City was the right one because I feel like  

there are a lot more Pros to me and the cons  of course they exist no country is perfect and  

in every single country you will encounter some  problems and challenges you will feel lonely you  

will feel like giving up and moving to your home  country but there are always things that make you  

realize that yes I think it is the right choice  maybe in a couple of years I will change my mind  

maybe in a couple of months I'll change my mind  but for now where I am at right now and what my  

values are right now I feel like I'm doing the  right thing okay now let's talk about something  

a little bit more personal it's about having  to learn how to be alone when you move to a new  

country especially when you're moving completely  alone by yourself they're gonna be so many moments  

especially at the very beginning when you feel  like I don't belong here when you feel like why  

am I here like I'm so lonely I'm so alone and even  right now I sometimes feel sad and lonely when I'm  

here in my apartment all by myself but then what I  do is I say okay Veronica stop stop thinking about  

that and start thinking about all the amazing  things and all the amazing people you're meaning  

almost every single day here so when I first moved  here guys I couldn't even spend one day by myself  

it was just so difficult for me so what I did is  I always went to coffee shops every single day I  

would go to a coffee shop and work there and just  like being surrounded by people who were obviously  

total strangers to me really helped you know  this like presence of another human being was so  

important to me and those I guess I just checked  on my phone and I wrote down that I also allowed  

myself to spend money on my so-called loneliness  budget so back then for me the loneliness budget  

was going to a coffee shop every single day  obviously I wasn't like spending a lot of money  

there I would just tell myself okay branca you  can only buy one drink and I was allowing myself  

to spend this money because I realized that this  would make me feel less lonely and of course one  

more thing I had to struggle with and am still  struggling sometimes is realizing that I can't  

find any new friends because when I was still  setting in high school and in college you know  

like my parents or like people around me would  tell me oh you find your best friends in high  

school or oh your friend your best friends in  college oh and guys for me it was very different  

my high school experience was well I was like a  real nerd I didn't want to talk to anyone I felt  

very isolated because I was isolating myself from  everyone else in college my education was like 90  

remote so I wasn't even interested in making any  friends because it wasn't even worth it I'm out  

of college I'm out of high school and I'm like so  am I doomed will I never find best friends ever  

so what you can do here is again you can go  to all of those like language exchange events  

you can also go to speed dating events because  they are pretty fun too basically the concept  

is you're going there to find a date but I  think a lot of people go there to just talk  

to other people and have fun so don't consider  it something like super like romantic or formal  

you're just going there to have fun and meet  new people the second thing you can do is you  

can go to different Facebook groups for example  foreigners in your city or expats in your city  

and this way you can also find new events and if  you're active on social media you can also talk  

about you moving on your social media because this  way actually guys I have met at least two people  

this way like in person here in Mexico City so  yeah guys I think it's gonna be it for this video  

honestly this video is very very personal for  me because I have shared everything everything I  

have to struggle with and I really hope that this  video will help you if you're planning to move or  

if you have just moved you're not alone believe  me you're not alone and you have all the power to  

help yourself thank you guys so much for watching  this video if you liked it make sure to give  

it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel and  I'll see you guys in my next videos bye foreign