How to adapt to living in a new country?

Question

i am a 20 year old american. i have lived in the u.s. for my whole life but i desire to travel/live in latin america. i love the culture and would like to experience life there. i want to know the hardships i would face in trying to live in a country like mexico, argentina, or any of the countries. what would the employment opportunities be for me (i speak english and spanish)? would it even be thinkable to be able to support myself independently in a new country like this? thanks for any information you can help me with.

Answer 1

Since you are realtively young it may be less painful for you as you will not be relearning everything you know. For most people moving to a new country and using a new language are what I always call a "Spiritual Phd".

In general, changing cultures is a complicated and difficult task for most people. Most of everything that you know and have learned about people may no longer be useful. The light switches will be in a different place, time will be treated different than in the US in Latin America, wor kethics may be very different, etc.

The only way to adjust is to be flexible, open minded and EXPECT that everything will be different.

Employment options vary a lot from country to country, as in the US, many countries have laws that try to protect their citizens from foreign competitors in the job market. However, if you are bilingual and REALLY bilingual, your chances will be vastly improved as it is hard to find bilingual employees in companies that need them

The chances are that you will never earn the same kind of money as you would in the states. Most people who change cultures do so for reasons other than money, they are seeking a new lifestyle, so most simply accept that they may have to lower their standard of living if they move to a foreign country where wage scales are lower.

Latin American countries would generally be considered more "socialist"and "leftist"if American political terms applied ( which they generally don't) so if you were very conservative politically it could be overwhelming.

Answer 2

The best advise I can give about adapting to a new country is be open minded and flexible.

This will take you a LONG way in Latin America!

Good luck!

Answer 3

Learn from locals and in Latin America, do Latino's doing, be humble, don't criticise others.

You can find a job around $1 per hour in hotel, bar, restaurant, but the living expense and rental is much cheaper, latino can survive, you can survive too, that is invalueable thing you can learn.