How Living in Different Cultures Teaches You About Who You Are
Living across the globe I learned what I like, what I dislike, and what I don’t have to fear anymore. Told through funny comics.
Living across the globe I learned what I like, what I dislike, and what I don’t have to fear anymore. Told through funny comics.
In the age of digital nomads, we are often bombarded on social media by these amazing traveling lifestyles of people constantly hopping from one country to another. This article is not about that.
I will tell you what I learned from my experiences of really living in a new country for extended periods of time, from a few months to many years: Not as a tourist or a foreigner who happened to stumble upon these places, but as a person integrated in the local community in all the ways that matter.
Here are the 4 personal developments I achieved while living in 5 different countries (Croatia, Portugal, Australia, Vanuatu, and Germany), with accompanying comics retelling some of my funny moments.
1. You learn what matters to you and what you can live without.
The first thing I realized when I first moved away from Croatia, my home country, was that I was free to adopt new cultural practices. I became aware that there were certain things I much preferred in this new culture, compared to the one I come from. And there were also some customs where I preferred my original culture. The great thing is you can pick and choose and consciously decide what you can live without and what you do not want to let go of.
One great example of this is food. When I arrived in Portugal, I was delighted that they easily eat dessert almost every time after lunch, which wasn’t the case in Croatia. This is the practice I wholeheartedly adopted. I also started eating sweet and not savory breakfasts. I hear you thinking it’s not good for me, but I have a sweet tooth and I can’t help it, trust me!
But one eating habit I didn’t adopt so easily are late dinners. Portuguese people eat complete dinners every day around 8-9 pm and this is too late for me to eat a whole meal. Here I stayed with my Croatian habit of either eating earlier or skipping dinner, which later came in handy in Germany. As shown in the comic, Germans have late drinks instead. Another easy cultural adaptation for me!
The differences in fashion between different European countries, and even between different cities in the same country, are jarring. As a woman, this point is especially pertinent, because how you dress signals to others how you perceive and display your gender. While in countries like Croatia, Italy, and France women are often expected to look very fashionable and feminine in a traditional way, in Berlin, there are simply no such rules: the messier the better! And Vanuatu dresses are simply beautiful on everyone…
If you are wondering what fashion style I adopted in the end, I guess you could say I’m more on the Berlin side, but still quite girly and feminine. And I might wear an occasional island dress from Vanuatu (when I’m there).
2. You find your true taste for food and drinks.
For a foodie like me, one of the best things about living in different places is trying out all the new food and drinks. When I lived in Melbourne I got into the light roast coffee, which is just so much richer in flavor than the commercial dark roast. Now that I’m back in Germany, I finally started telling apart the places that sell the light roast coffee from the cafés with dark roasts. If you are unsure about which one you usually drink or like, ask your local barista about it!
Also, trying food and drinks prepared in different ways might change your mind about the things you thought you didn’t like. If you don’t like coffee, maybe the light roast single origins will change your mind! Or, as in my case, you might rediscover beer, after you’ve tried some cool craft beers. Some places are just richer in this craft beer culture, although it must’ve reached almost everywhere by now.
And there are of course amazing new dishes that just didn’t make it to your home country yet. Often times the only way to even try it or eat it prepared in an authentic way is to eat it in the place of origin. In Vanuatu I discovered laplap, a yummi mix of coconut cream and cassava, featured in the comic and the photo below.
Again, the main point here is that you can choose what type of food you want to call your favorite, now that your taste buds have been exposed to more options. The only way to find this taste that reflects your true likes and dislikes is to eat and drink in different places and cultures.
3. You face your fears and overcome them.
The next thing you will come across living in different places are your fears. I don’t mean metaphorically here, I mean all those nightmares you have about spiders…yes, they will come true!
In Australia and the Pacific, the spiders can be truly huge, even though they are not always poisonous. You learn that the small ones are the danger, the big ones are good (at least that’s what I’ve been told). In any case, surprisingly so, you learn to live with these things. After some time, you don’t overreact anymore and all these spiders, cockroaches, and the occasional mice become your friends. Sort of — you can learn to tolerate them at least. And if you don’t believe me, let’s talk after you’ve spent 6 months in Australia and the Pacific.
But yes, besides animal and nature-related fears, you will also overcome the fear and the anxiety of being alone in a completely new place and having to figure everything out from scratch. Depending on the place and your connections, this process can be harder (Germany in my case) or easier (Australia), but it will become easier with every new experience of living someplace new.
4. You face your cognitive dissonances (and overcome them?)
Finally, you will start recognizing some mistaken believes you might have, or cognitive dissonances, as they are known in psychology. One such belief I found myself to hold is that others always have it better, or the grass is always greener elsewhere.
When I was in Vanuatu, I just assumed they simply have better food overall, because of the tropical climate. I was so jealous of such amazing fruit, like mango, avocado, soursop, and pamplemousse (pomelo) that are often available all year round.
Funnily enough, I found out that Vanuatu locals crave the fruit I don’t care about at all: apples. Since we have them in such abundance in Europe, for us apples are a boring fruit, but for people from Vanuatu, they are as exotic as mangoes are for us. This realization blew my mind. I decided I would not disregard apples anymore. Unfortunately, this lasted only until I got bored of apples again. Humans can be really stubborn…
On a similar note, I learned that sometimes you should just appreciate what you have at home. This thought was very helpful for me during the pandemic times, when I was not able to travel and create new experiences in new places. There is also plenty of stuff to discover at home.
But when it comes to food, I often feel that I am only able to appreciate the authenticity and the high standard of foreign foods at home because I have experienced them at their best in the place of origin.
With my first vaccine shot done, I am hoping I will soon be able to do that again.
Good luck and travel away (when you can do it responsibly)!
