Packing up and setting sail.
The process of moving to a new city might be an intimidating thought to some, packing up and leaving for another city is rather brutal on the person taking up such an endeavor, but the extent to how bad an experience one is going to have is going to depend on a few factors, such as if you know anyone who is willing to help show you around the new city and filling you in on the local cultural norms. But if you are not lucky enough to have that helping hand, it’s quite a challenge figuring your way around on your own. Here are some things I pondered about when I found myself moving to a new city.
Having High Spirits
Despite a lot of planning and mentally preparing yourself, you are bound to face-plant into unforeseen instances, instead of trying to avoid those situations, you’d be served right to take them head-on and test your ability to handle adversity. The voluntary nature of putting yourself in a hornet's nest is a crucial part of developing a resilient character.
Primary Demographic of Movers.
A person is more likely to move if they are single and not tied down by family or other related reasons and particularly if they are young. That’s not to say older people don’t make wild decisions, but they are less likely to do it. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to build up a new life in a new city from scratch. In recent years, moving to a new city is a possibility opened by working remotely. One is not confined to any particular place if they work remotely. So people are more likely to consider moving to a new city to spice things up and bring back excitement to their lives.
Language Barrier
Almost every state in India has a language of its own, sometimes there’s more than one language spoken even within a state so different corners of the state have different dialects or a different language altogether but a variant of Hindi is spoken in most states so people of different geographic backgrounds can communicate with each other but if you don't speak the local language to any extent, google translate should come to your rescue. If you are moving in your 20’s or 30’s it gets even more challenging to become native to the town, because of the developmental age having passed. Learning the local language is almost impossible unless you dedicate a good amount of time to learning the language, the local language is one of the most critical things to learn if you truly want to be a part of the community, but if you don’t have the time or the willingness to do that, you needn’t worry, the perk of moving to a metro city is that it’s usually filled with immigrants so you aren’t alone in not speaking the language, you could be selective about who you seek out and find out people who speak the same language as you and socialize with them instead.
The Art of Fighting for a Fair Price.
This point is exclusive to India-like countries where haggling is a common practice and considered part of the culture. When you go to the market – specifically to the farmer’s market where food products don’t have a fixed price and don’t usually have a price tag on them, it leaves the door open for sellers to take advantage of your naivete, The local sellers can tell that you’re not native to the state and they’ll overcharge you to make some extra cash.
Personal Anecdote: I initially paid twice the amount for veggies and fruits, So I came up with what I thought was a genius plan to avoid getting ripped off, I stood by the vendor and waited for someone to buy the same thing, I waited and observed how much they paid for it, and accordingly figured out the true price of the item. If you are sensitive to the social awareness brought on by you standing there without buying anything, you could look up the price for each item and compare it to the asking price of the item. If the price is in the ballpark, you'll know you are not being pulled one over on.
Finding a Place to Live.
If it’s your first time being in a town, you might wanna withhold on signing a long term lease until you have fully explored the new area, searched the internet or read other people’s testimonials about a place being good. But this will only go so far in perfectly overlapping with your requirements from a place. Sometimes what may seem trivial to another person may be a deal-breaker for you, so you’d be wise to find a place temporarily until you have explored all the nooks and crannies of the house you plan on moving into. A few things to keep in mind during choosing a place are the distance to the essentials such as the pharmacy, the local market, and accessibility to public transit.
Making Connections
The internet has made a lot of aspects of life easy, and it doesn’t fall short when wanting to make new friends in a new city, almost every major city in the world has a subreddit of their own or some sort of an online community consisting of local residents. That is exactly how I made a few friends before moving to the new city. I wrote out a post on a subreddit asking people for help with what to be prepared for and things to know about the city before arriving. You'd be surprised with how helpful people were.
The other hack for when you plan on moving to a city that doesn't have a dedicated internet community is you could look up the yellow pages of that place and call people one by one and ask them to help you out with an understanding of what the place is like and what to expect. I personally did this for a place called Mizoram, India. - I called up local businesses and asked them a few questions. Lo and behold, I had hours-long conversations with them and a few of them offered to host me for a few days until I had my foot in the door. Aren't humans beautiful!
Initially, when moving you’ll find it difficult to cook for yourself so you’re bound to eat out/ order in. The difference in the cuisine and how well you like it will depend on your subjective sense of taste, if you don't find it appetizing enough for regular consumption, the best thing to do is to ask the internet for dishes that you might like and then slowly introduce the local dishes into your meals to acquire a taste for the local cuisine
You might come from a place with a different weather, depending on your tolerance for the change in the weather you are going to need some getting used to before you get comfortable. For instance, with a warmer area comes more mosquitoes, so bring along a mosquito repellent to keep the monsters away.
If you are on a budget or trying to cut costs, you could live on a shared basis as a Paying Guest. This is the most ideal option if you are on a limited budget but there are some major strings attached with living with other people. Loss of Privacy, disruption of sleep due to noise, waiting in queue for the restroom just to name a few.
These points are not to scare you away from taking a step in the direction of moving and building a new life but to make you aware of the obstacles you might face, and better prepare you for it.
PS: If you are interested in remote software engineering, and want to be immersed in the culture and community follow me on Twitter. I tweet every two days and the community will help fastrack all our careers.