They say it takes about one day for the body to adjust itself to every hour of a time zone difference. If you’re like me, that meant 9 days of dysregulated sleep after making the jump from Pacific Standard Time to Central European Standard Time.
But what about the adjustment time of moving to a new city?
- And how many extra days of mental calibration do we tack on after moving to a new country with an official language unknown to us?
- With an unfamiliar currency?
- With no friends?
Okay, maybe there aren’t any scientific studies proving that Prague expats don’t begin to fully adjust until an exact time, being that it is a very relative and personal experience, but I’m here to pose a new hypothesis:
If we move abroad to a city like Prague where we don’t speak thelanguage, know anyone, or understand the financial conversion rate, then it will take about three months to feel adjusted in the new environment*.
*Scientist’s note: on the condition that you attend the TEFL Worldwide Prague program.
My accreditation? As I write this I’ve just surpassed the Prague Three Month Mark. And as any good scientist, I’ve tested my theory.
There are three major parts to moving to a new place: livelihood, community, and a general sense of ease and understanding.
- The importance of livelihood doesn’t need to be expanded on much. We all need to eat, make money, and have a home that feels safe and comfortable. Otherwise known as the basic necessities for survival in a new place. According to myself and my fellow TEFL graduates, that process took anywhere from a month to two months. Nearly all of us received jobs a week following our commencement and the apartments soon followed.
- As for community, I can thank the TEFL Worldwide program for the head start. Making friends can be an arduous journey as an adult, especially when you’ve left your support system behind in moving away. There’s no better remedy to a friendless newby than a one-month intensive classroom experience with 12 other people in your exact same position. I was lucky enough to begin my first week in Prague with a handful of contacts and soon-to-be friends. Beyond TEFLWorldwide, Facebook groups, coworkers, and English-speaking pubs will likely be your besties.
- Oh, and of course, a general sense of ease and understanding. Arguably the easiest of the three to measure. (Just Kidding). In truth, it’s incredibly difficult to measure because it’s not as linear or steady as the other two. One day we feel out of our element entirely in a new place that we’re struggling to understand and then, a few days later we’re navigating ourselves on the metro without Google Maps and think, “Wow, I’m basically a local”. But in the third and final month, you may begin to notice it’s been a little longer since you last felt spun out or out of place. Or maybe you’ve successfully ordered a Kebab in Czech. And that’s when you know the third part has been achieved.
Spoiler alert: These three months are not actually a foolproof guidebook to life in a new place. And I’m not actually a scientist. What these three months truly are is a Grace Period.
A time allotted to yourself pre-move that allows for less stress and more consideration. A period of time during which you admit to yourself, “Wow I have no idea what’s going on but it’s maybe okay sort of”. A time during which if you don’t make many friends, haven’t found a great apartment yet or a job you love, or learned the language, you’re able to say, “I’m in my Grace Period. And during my Grace Period, I don’t have to have anything figured out”. (As for the conversion rate, the calculator app does wonders).
A Grace Period looks like talking to as many people as you can, wandering the city and looking at your surroundings with an extra drop of attentiveness, and absorbing as many words, sounds, smells, and bits of information as you can from daily life. Because there’s nothing more exciting than the first few months in a new place. So by allowing ourselves to feel the discomfortof it, we are also acknowledging its thrill.
Few things about relocating are easy, and even fewer are stress-free. But if we keep the Grace Period in the back of our minds throughout this kind of life-changing process, patience and compassion with oneself are bound to follow. And while all this is not to say I feel 100% settled in my life in a new city after three short months, I no longer feel jet-lagged.
(tram photo by Free Walking Tour Prague)
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