Yogesh Dhancholia
"I met so many fellow expats with rich experiences and multiple solutions for mitigating problems via the large alumni network. At the International Citizen Hub Lund, I also had the opportunity to find excellent mentors/ advisors/ friends and guides in Lisa & Susanne who are great pillars of strength, and excellent sounding boards to share ones thoughts and receive the right direction."
Adventure called Life
Life is one big adventure is how I like to see it, with ups and downs, the mix of which varies from person to person, but the key thing is one must always be in the right frame of mind to face it, and this brings me to one of the adventures of my life which is moving to Nordics more precisely Lund, Sweden.
For a person who was born and brought up in India and had no experience of living outside the country, this was a very interesting decision, especially when it came on the back of being a support for the career choice made by my lovely spouse, and as they say your spouse is always right, so who can argue with that, hence began the adventure.
This kind of move also means one needs to have an open mind and be ready for adapting to multiple changes. We moved in the month of October and the adaptation began not only with the weather but also the way we looked at day to day things and below are my experience so far:
Patience is the key
This is true for most things in life but especially true when you are adapting to a new culture and system, from waiting to get your personnummer to opening a bank account for the coveted BankID. One needs to avoid panic and getting frustrated, easier said than done though.
Asking and Seeking support
This is an important thing which I learned, because while the circumstances of every international maybe different, the problems faced on an average are the same for all. Hence it is critical to find a reliable source of information from where one learns about the experience of others who have followed before, and here is where the International Citizen Hub Lund is an excellent community. I met so many fellow expats with rich experiences and multiple solutions for mitigating problems via the large alumni network. At the International Citizen Hub Lund, I also had the opportunity to find excellent mentors/ advisors/ friends and guides in Lisa & Susanne who are great pillars of strength, and excellent sounding boards to share ones thoughts and receive the right direction.
Persistence
The other thing this move has taught me is persistence, as when you are in a new culture, in a place where you don’t speak the native tongue, even though the Swedish folks love to speak in English and getting by day to day is not a issue at all, but if you want to enter the work market, most opportunities are in the medium companies and here Swedish becomes a key. Learning a new language can never be an overnight achievement so persistence is required for both learning the language as well as keeping up with job search and taking the rejections in your stride.
Enjoying this journey
Finally, as I said earlier, life is an adventure and my current move is piece of this adventure. So I keep reminding myself with a pep talk about what matters the most. That is my family should be enjoying this journey and of course at the International Citizen Hub Lund , there is a community who is going through the same struggles, with whom you can share, learn and grow to make this a story worth telling to your grandkids.
/ Yogesh Dhancholia
Uppdaterad:
