‘Seeing the world with both eyes’

People, life, issues, opportunities, relationships, work; these are all fundamental elements of our day-to-day repertoire of situations that we have to face constantly in our life. However, when living in your home country all of these challenges are just ‘normal’, we call it routine and we begin to forget the real meaning of the little shades that every day life offers us. We are sure that is how the ‘world works’. We strengthen our beliefs around how safe environment and we forget to look at the bigger picture, to understand that everything matters, which goes beyond our personal beliefs.

What I find interesting is how experiencing new things, visiting new places and meeting different people, changes the way we think, behave and relate to others.

Living in a different country made me realise that before moving abroad for my first time I did not truly understand the real meaning of cultures and perspectives.

What I truly believe is that it does not matter where we come from or what religion we believe in at the end of the day we are all essentially the same. We like to meet people, have fun, play games, follow our passions and genuinely be part of something.

However, in most cases we fail to understand that since everyone is the same, we all have common fears, concerns, prejudices, which depending on multiple factors (country history, traditions, religion, language, etc.) will shape our behaviour and attitude towards life.

Therefore, living for your entire life in only one country, it seems like we are missing something, we cannot see the bigger picture, we cannot understand that the world is not that bad and actually offers a great deal of opportunities to live your life to the best. Travelling and living abroad helps re-develop that attention to details that we had so strong when we were kids as well as feeling proud even for little achievements. Paying (more) attention to our everyday life, it can be a really powerful tool to understand cultures and others peoples perspectives. For instance, saying ‘cheers!’ to the bus driver when getting off, sensing new smells in the air, crossing the road or going to a takeaway are all little factors which break our routine to which we were used to back in our home countries.

I call it the ‘two eyes theory’, living in only one country gives us only one perspective or point of view, which we believe is true and cannot be argued with. Everyone is absolutely sure that their country are doing it better or in the right way, while we fail to understand that things can be done in different ways based on our country background and the resources provided for the specific purposes. Therefore in an abstract way, living in different countries and experiencing different realities it is a great way to be able to see things more clearly, from multiple perspectives. This means that we will be more tolerant and open about new ideologies and others people attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, we will be able to build a better future for ourselves and for the people we care about. Re-discovering little pleasures that we had long forgotten helps enhance our creativity and willingness to always do better, in order to live a happier life. Living in such a globalised world adapting to different points of view is the true key to happiness. Changing or improving our mentality is an essential step that everyone in life should go through.

‘Seeing with both eyes’ will deeply change our beliefs and reshape our way of approaching every challenge that we will face in our future with a strange optimism. The reason is that we will be able to truly understand that we are just part of a bigger picture and we need to be ready to see more clearly opportunities that are presented to us during our life experience.

So get out there, live your life, travel, experience new things and make mistakes, because that is the only true way of learning, by understanding what you believe is wrong or right by being able to draw from your knowledge of different viewpoints. Living abroad is one of the experiences that really stresses these points and will help you overcome your fears and preconceptions that we previously believed in.

 By Gianluca (@GianluShalla)

Im going...Now what?

Well done! You have made a very difficult decision, a decision that you may not yet realise, but will change the course for your life. You have decided to move to another country. You are leaving behind your family, your friends, your favourite foods and familiar places to start a new chapter in a completely unfamiliar place. But believe me, you are going to love it!

First of all, there is no need to panic! The hard part has been done. You have made your decision. The rest you can leave to us. Now you just have to pack, say goodbye to friends and family, have your favourite dish for dinner and prepare to embark on a new journey. The moment that you put a foot on that plane, you’ll realise that you have no idea what to expect. You’ll feel nervous, excited, scared, happy, sad, mixed emotions! I know, it´s very confusing!! But don´t worry, I can say beyond doubt, that the moment you step off that plane in London, the excitement of this adventure will overcome all those other emotions. Trust me, I´ve been through it before!

If you arrive in Brighton by train, you´ll see a sign; “Welcome to Brighton”. You´ll probably read it to yourself and smile, thinking, “let the journey begin.” Admit it, life is a movie in your head! When you get to Brighton, we will be there right from the beginning. We are more than happy to meet you on arrival and drop your bags to wherever you are staying. We can even book that accommodation for you before you arrive. All the concerns that you had, you can forget because we are going to help you! Whether you’re a university student, you’re looking for a job, or came here to learn English, we are here to help.

We can find you long or short term accommodation, a job, an English school, we’ll open a bank account with you, we will give you a SIM card the day you arrive and we’ll show you around the city so you can get familiar with your new home. We can even show you how to find people from your own country who have done this before you. All the problems you were fretting over can be solved, and in the end the difficult tasks will turn out to be just another enjoyable part of the journey!

I came to Brighton almost 4 years ago and I can say that it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I grew up, and I became an independent person. The people I met here were worth the trouble. Looking back, I wish I had someone that could have helped me at the beginning. This is why we are doing this for you. We know it’s important to have some support during the important moments of life.

So my advice is to finish packing that bag and come to have the time of your life!

By Carolina (@PratasCarolina)

Moving to the UK, Living in Brighton

We have arrived!

Hello! 

Welcome to Easy Adapting – Brighton, and today marks day 1 of our existence! Today we launch our website, and with that our services, so we thought it would be best to tell you a little about what it is we do.

So, what is it that we do, and why are we doing it?

Well, what we do is really up to you. If you have come this far, you are probably thinking about moving to Brighton City. Moving to a new place is one of the most exciting things you can do in life, something I always recommend to people, even more so than just travelling, because when you live in a new country you get to experience the culture of that place. You really get to know a place and a people, way more in-depth than if you were just visiting.

Now, exciting as it may be, with this excitement often comes a lot of questioning. Am I making the right choice? Should I move there? What if I can’t find a job, or learn the language, or get into school?  It’s natural that a move like this would be stressful, but that is where we come in. My co-founders Andy, Carolina, Gianluca and I have been through all this, so now we are going to make your transition a whole lot easier.

We have a very good idea of how to make moving to and living in Brighton easy. The services we offer will do just that, it’ll make settling down in the UK easy.

The Process

In simple terms, if you decide to move to Brighton, contact us.

This is a personalised service; so firstly we will get you know you a bit. This will be through Skype, email, or ideally meeting in person. Once we get to know you a little, and you get to know us, we can start to work on assisting you in settling into life here in Brighton. This will firstly involve giving you a guided tour of the city, a UK SIM card for your phone and some general info about the city. After that it’s up to you. We can help you set up a bank account, find somewhere to live, find a job, apply to school. Pretty much anything you want. If it makes life easier for you, we’ve got it covered.

What’s more, we organise some social event and gatherings for our members. Personally this is my favourite part of EAB. These events are a great way to meet other people from around the world who have also moved to Brighton. And it’s a great way for you to meet new people.

So, that’s it! That’s pretty much what we do. If you are moving to Brighton, get in touch. We will do all we can to help.

By Patrick (@paddymcgue)