There’s always so much to organise when you move abroad that sometimes you think that the quicker you can tick things off your ‘to do’ list the better. However, recently published research has shown that one element of the relocation you need to take very seriously is choosing your new home if you want to be sure of settling in abroad quickly.
If you have children in tow the choice of the right home is even more critical…whilst you can perhaps battle your own integration issues head on and behind closed doors, your family will need your support. Research has shown that having the right home environment, in which physical barriers to communication are broken down, will ensure much swifter and smoother integration for everyone.
In this report we explore this finding and detail our own secrets to settling in quickly when you move abroad. After all, the sooner your house can feel like home, the sooner your family will be happy in their new overseas environment.
An American research institute, called the Interchange Institute, surveyed expats living in 48 different locations around the world to determine the extent of the role their homes play in their integration experience. The research has revealed that expats who choose to live in an open-plan or ‘centripetal’ home often achieve integration and therefore happiness abroad far more quickly.
Commenting specifically on this finding, the director of the Institute Dr Copeland stated: “Very few expats in our survey deliberately chose centripetal houses, but those who had such houses generally found settling in far easier, probably because this type of home brings everyone together more and breaks down barriers.”
Therefore, the layout of your new home environment abroad is clearly important if you want to keep the family together, communicating and working through any issues they have. Further aspects of your relocation that you need to concentrate on if you want to ensure you settle in as quickly as possible include how quickly you unpack, in what order you unpack, the community you choose to live in and the security, privacy and comfort of your home environment.
If you have children with you it’s very important to create a comfortable own-room environment for them if at all possible. By unpacking their personal effects, putting up much loved pictures on the wall and having familiar books, games and gadgets all to hand will help them more seamlessly adjust to the new home environment overseas.
Giving them this familiarity ensures that whatever they face outside the house will be easier to tackle as they have security behind them in the form of their comfortable and familiar home.
For you and your spouse, the same goes really. Research has shown that the quicker you can get the family photos on display and all your familiar personal effects unpacked, the sooner you will be able to call your house your new home. Also critical are establishing strong communication links with important family and friends ‘back home.’ Until you establish a new extended support network of friends, you will still rely on your old network even at a distance.
When searching for a new house abroad however, it’s important not to rush the decision just to get a home environment established – the research you do into the areas in which you can potentially rent or buy a house are critically important. For you to feel comfortable in a new house it goes beyond the four walls and making it feel like home on the inside.
It’s important that you choose a neighbourhood and community environment where you feel safe, where you can enjoy privacy and where you’re living amongst like-minded people from a parallel background to your own. For example, for professionals relocating abroad it’s often sensible to make your home in a community also populated with fellow professionals. This is not a classist comment or decision, it has more to do with your ease of making friends and being able to relate to those who you choose to live amongst.
Finally, in order to feel at home abroad as quickly and as smoothly as possible, you need to make local contacts and friends. This takes personal effort on the part of every family member…but rather than seeing this challenge as a barrier to you settling in abroad, see it as an opportunity to meet new and interesting people, some of whom could enhance your life as close friends forever.
The sooner you and your family commit to getting out there and meeting people, getting involved in community and local events, inviting people over for social evenings or even joining groups or clubs, the sooner you will be meeting friendly faces and taking the final important steps required to settle in abroad.