Living abroad is also about saying goodbye – a lot. You say goodbye to your ‘old friends’ and family when they come to visit, or when you visit your old home.
It also happens often that you have to say goodbye to people you’ve met more recently. When living in another country, you meet a lot of other foreigners – or expats. Chances are big they won’t hang around forever.
Most people move abroad for the adventure, to experience another culture from the inside. Some of them know a 100% sure where they want to live – and stay forever. Others might use it as a stopover to the next adventure. Our goals change all of the time. I bet if you ask an expat where and how they see their future, they are never entirely sure about their answer at that moment.
That is what makes it more special. Life to me is about not being stuck to where you started it, or where you decided to move at some point. You can choose wherever you want to go, whenever you want to. It might be wise to stay at the stable job in the stable environment you find yourself in at the moment. But if you really want to, you will always be able to find another great job in another environment somewhere else on the world, which will make you a lot happier. It might be unstable in the beginning, but what does it really matter? Happiness is the most important, right? The world is full of opportunities!
Okay, I’m going off-topic now. For this reason, there are a lot of goodbyes. Yourself who leaves a place – or other people, moving on to their next destination.
They will never get really easy. There are so many people all over the world, who earned a special place in my heart and for who I can’t wait to spend quality time with one day soon.
Fortunately nowaday technology makes it easy to keep in touch, wherever friends and family may be.
And you know what? When used to travelling, it’s not that much of a big step to visit someone who moved far away. It even makes a great reason to jump into a plane and visit a new (or old) place!
The reason I’m writing this, is because today I had to say goodbye to a good friend, who only works in Lyon in the summers. In the upcoming weeks there will be a few more friends to say goodbye to.
It’s sad, but we will keep in contact. And she already booked a flight to come back to visit me in December!
