9 Advantages & Pros of Living Abroad In my opinion, there are a lot more pros than cons of living in a foreign country. Here are a few that you definitely need to be aware of! Caution: these pros may make you want to pack up and move immediately to a new country!!
1. Easier to Travel to New Places The number one reason we have lived abroad so many times is that we want to travel more in the area that we moved to! I can tell you for sure that if we hadn’t lived in Northern Vietnam, we wouldn’t have been able to visit off-the-beaten-path places like Pu Luong National Park or Mai Chau or this crazy hike in Halong Bay. Here in France, we’ve discovered so many places near Nice that we simply wouldn’t have had the time to visit before, like that are hilltop villages just an hour away?! Peille Village and Peillon Village are my favorites so far!
All because every weekend we are SO excited to get out and discover the country we’ve moved to!
2. Learn a New Language Ever imagined yourself speaking another language fluently? Well, this could be your chance to be immersed in that language you’ve always wanted to learn!
Learning the local language is absolutely necessary if you plan to stay for a while (especially if you move to France like we did!)
I’m a bit of a language fanatic (I’ve written a TON about Duolingo and iTalki, my two VERY favorite language tools that I can’t live without!) but even if you’re not interested in learning languages, there’s something so beautiful about being surrounded by words you don’t know. Who knows, maybe you’ll convert! (;
Literally the BEST website out there for learning languages online (through conversation!)
Want to learn how to learn a language and NEVER forget it? Check out one of my favorite language learning books on Amazon about how to stay fluent in a language over time without losing fluency! 3. Put Yourself Outside of Your Comfort Zone Learning a new language in a new country with new foods and new friends and new streets… I’d say that’s the definition of putting yourself outside of your comfort zone! You will learn a lot about yourself by living abroad and you may grow as a person a lot faster!
You are constantly being presented with new obstacles and challenges that you have to figure out, usually on your own or in a language you don’t fully understand. If that doesn’t refine a person, I don’t know what will!
Although I can’t say that I’m the most patient, I actually only cried a handful of times during the process of moving to France! lol
Cried quite a bit over this dang France visa lol I prepared myself for the absolute worst (our story of finding an apartment was a bit of a nightmare) and surprised myself when French came out of my mouth even under the most stressful situations.
Get ready to prove to yourself that you can handle SO MUCH MORE than you thought you could. Okay, inspirational speech over!