essay moving abroad

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How Living Abroad Helps You Develop a Clearer Sense of Self

• Otilia Obodaru,
• Jackson G. Lu,
• William Maddux,
• Adam D. Galinsky

Research finds it’s driven by how long you’ve lived abroad, not where.

In today’s increasingly globalized world, more and more people are choosing to live, work and study abroad — and this trend appears to be a good thing: Social science studies have shown that international experiences can enhance creativity, reduce intergroup bias, and promote career success. Researchers set out to examine whether and how international experiences can transform a person’s sense of self. Specifically, they focused on “self-concept clarity,” the extent to which someone’s understanding of himself or herself is “clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable” — a trait that has been linked to increased well-being and job performance. In six studies with 1,874 participants, they found that living abroad leads to greater self-concept clarity — which can lead to clearer career decisions — and what matters is depth rather than breadth of living abroad experiences.

In today’s increasingly globalized world, more and more people are choosing to live, work and study abroad —and this trend appears to be a good thing: social science studies have shown that international experiences can enhance creativity , reduce intergroup bias , and promote career success .

• HA Hajo Adam is an assistant professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
• OO Otilia Obodaru is an assistant professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
• JL Jackson G. Lu is an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
• WM William Maddux is a professor of organizational behavior at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Adam D. Galinsky is the chair of the Management Division at the Columbia Business School. He co-authored the critically acclaimed and best-selling book,  Friend & Foe  (Penguin Random House, 2015), and delivered a popular TED talk,  How to Speak Up for Yourself .

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Moving From One Country To Another (Essay Sample)

Moving to a new country.

It is always an adventurous and fun experience to explore and discover new places. Not only is it informative but also provide an individual with the chance to learn about the ways of life in other places too. Moving to another country however, offers a new dimension. People move to a new country for various reasons. It might be political, career, or simply for the sake of discovery. People flee wars or go for greener pastures in new countries. While it might be for all the possible reasons, moving to another country might come about with mixed results, while it also calls for a lot of things to be considered.

Moving to another country calls for some great degree of psychological preparation. This is especially the case when the move is pre-planned. In the unplanned moves, such as in the case of war, one might not have the chance to even prepare, since it happens so abruptly and the change is mandatory. It is never easy for anyone to just change the environment one has been used to for a long time. Well, it is human nature to dislike change, especially the sudden ones. As a result, moving to a new country means inviting new culture, lifestyle, and generally, starting one’s life afresh in a new environment.

There would be a high likelihood that one can suffer culture shock in the destination country, since some things would be automatically and obviously different to the home country. Some psychological preparation is key. Culture shock can be caused by anything and everything, the foods there might be different, the nature of sports, dressing as well as forms of entertainment. They might be quite contrasting to the ones back home. Loneliness might also ensue, since it would mean leaving all the friends and family back home, to venture into new territory where one might not know anyone. Depending on one’s personality, making friends is a process and might therefore take quite some time. One therefore needs some conditioning.

To do this, for example, one has to do some background research on the destination country. Tis is through reading or watching various features about the country, so as to acquire some knowledge or information about it. It helps one to have at least some preview about how the nation runs, and how its people relate. Having such a preview is key in ensuring that one at least has a head start once he lands in the country. It saves a great deal when it comes to also knowing the do’s and don’ts in the new country. Although guides might be there, having a little prior information is good. With the new environment however, one learns how to be resilient, slowly by slowly, one finds some nice or interesting spots to hang out. The new country starts being homely. Not before long, one settles and life becomes quite enjoyable.

In conclusion, moving to another country is quite an experience. People move in search of greener pastures, for the sake of adventure, or as a result of fleeing political unrest in their home countries. Moving to a new country offers its own set of goods as well as disadvantages. The advantages are economic or career progress and safety. As a low down, it offers loneliness and culture shock to the visitor. One needs to be prepared prior to moving to a new country, since it helps reduce the impact of the low downs. All in all, there will always be beautiful lessons that one can learn from moving to new countries. Lessons that can only be learnt through experience.