Preparations for Moving Abroad

This summer has been an adventure to say the least! I got married and both my husband I have graduated with our Masters degrees, mine in Biology and his in Mathematics. The most exciting event of all is that in two days we are leaving our home in the United States to make a new home for the next three years in Oxford, United Kingdom where my husband will be entering into his PhD program in Mathematical Biology.

Fun, right?! All of the excitement this summer has made preparing to move hectic. While planning a wedding and finishing our degrees, we also had to pack for an international move and finish all the necessary paperwork to move to Oxford. As expected, we did some things right and others wrong.

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What we did right:

1. Began packing early

Because I finished my degree in May, I had some time to begin packing early. If I had to give anyone just one tip for preparing to move internationally, I would say pack as early as you can. Giving myself three to four months time to decide what to bring and what to leave made the process of packing run smoothly.

2. Purged most of my material belongings

When we found out we were going to be moving overseas, I looked around my house and thought “Wow, I have a ton of things, what am I going to do?” Moving from a small bedroom in my childhood home to a dorm room, the number of possessions I owned grew. Then moving from the dorms to an apartment, they doubled. Finally, I moved into a house from that apartment and my possessions tripled (and now included furniture) over the three years that I lived in the house. I started in the bedroom closet and worked my way out into the house. Every time I picked up an item I went through the same questions in my head: 1. Can I take this where I’m going? No. 2. Can I pack this easily in a suitcase with all of the clothes I need to bring? No. 3. Would someone else use this item that I haven’t touched in years? Maybe. I got rid of (sold/donated/trashed) about 90% or more of my belongings, including my car. Not only do I feel really good about not having so many things in my life now, but I can now fit everything I own into a suitcase and a backpack for easy travel and I have a little extra money!

3. Zip-loc Space Bags!

I bought a large box of Ziploc Space-Saver Bags, and I say best decision ever for packing to move abroad. You have to fit all of your clothes and any sentimental or useful items you want to take into a single suitcase to avoid paying airline fees for extra bags, so the more you can fit into your suitcase, the better. The space-saver bags were wonderful for packing our clothes. You put your clothes in them, vacuum seal them (or roll the air out) and they take up 1/3 to 1/2 less room than if you were to simply pack the clothes. We had to be careful not to make our bags overweight though, as some airlines charge over $100.00 for bags over 50 lb. I used a simple digital luggage scale that you can buy at Walmart for $14.00.

4. Organized important documents

Throughout the preparation process, we constantly needed to show some important document or another. After getting married, I had two weeks to get everything transferred to my new last name, including my passport. After that, we had to get biometrics and apply for our visas. The only thing that made that process relatively stress-free was having all of our important documents in one place and organized. Between birth certificates, immunization records, passports, marriage licenses, social security cards, and of course all of the visa and Oxford University paperwork, there is a lot to keep track of and find if nothing is organized.

What we could have done better:

1. Stress management

I am someone who gets stressed very easily, and I am constantly trying to find better ways to make any situation less stressful. I show up to movies 20 minutes before they start so that I can find the seat I want and I allow myself 30 minutes extra to drive anywhere unfamiliar, for example. My family tells me I “hurry up to wait,” and it is true, but it decreases my stress.

Moving to a foreign country is a wonderful experience, but with it comes stress of having to pack, getting visas and passports, getting rid of things that you might be sad to get rid of, and of course saying goodbye to family and friends for an extended period of time. I found myself dreading something or another related to the move, and so for the last few months small things irked me or could throw me into a bad/depressed mood. If I had to do this again (and I probably will), I would find something that I could return to that would relax me. Some people meditate, exercise, or just simply put the stressful problem away and return to it later when they feel ready to tackle it. I did none of these things, and I know I have been driving my husband up the wall with my recent emotional instability.

In the last two weeks, I have poured all of that energy into practicing another language (German) and I have been feeling better overall. I have also learned to take breaks from my packing when it gets too overwhelming.

2. Get into contact with more people sooner

If you are leaving for an extended period of time, you have to say bye to some friends. Some of those friends you may never see again. With the rush of the summer, there were some people my husband and I would have liked to spend some more time with one last time. Some of those people we will not ever see again, and it is a shame that we did not get to say goodbye properly.

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I’m sure that the lists above are not complete, but they depict what I think we did correct and incorrect in preparing to move. My thoughts might change when we actually leave in two days, and I will update with further information when we are across the pond.

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