 I know it's like that sounds really stupid, but like as an introvert like I need to hear these things I'm like, I'm sure that there's another introvert out there. He was like, how do I like How do I like get a human being to talk to me? I don't know. So I was watching YouTube the other day I was watching Jonathan Van Ness's YouTube channel and he was quoting the lady who wrote Eat Pray Love And he was actually quoting her fifth book and basically in this fifth book that the Eat Pray Love lady wrote she said that moving to a new city is one of the most traumatic things that you can do in your life and and I just feel very validated by that. Hi everybody, my name is Katie and welcome back to my channel. If you are new here I've last year I posted a lot of content about my gap year and living through the pandemic as a gap year student I am technically a junior in college right now, and I'm spending the year in Edinburgh, Scotland So if any of that interests you please hit subscribe. I post new videos every Friday and you can follow me on Instagram Yeah, so let's just get right into it because like I said moving to a new city and honestly this video is gonna pertain to like mostly study abroad students because like the actual resources that I'm mentioning have to do with student studying abroad, but a lot of these tips will Come in handy for just life in general because moving to a new city is traumatic I feel like I've had a lot of experience moving to new places by myself and by a lot I mean two two times, but still that's like I've got it. I've got a Grasp and I just want to say like I just wish that I had one of these videos Before I went to study abroad because this is probably like the number one thing that everybody is worried about especially if you're going alone and Maybe some people don't worry about these things, but I know there are other introverts out there or just people who are like friends New ones, that's terrifying. I talked to new people terrifying I feel you there because it is terrifying, but also it's a very nice part of life and it's very fun So I'm gonna give you some tips. Okay, so these are in no particular order But I'm just going to start with number one which is to join societies If you don't know what this is this is really just like a UK college thing I'm sure this is in other places in Europe and other other countries But this doesn't really exist in the same way that it does in America at American colleges There are things like fraternities and sororities and there are definitely clubs But in my experience most of the time clubs are more about like I don't even know like not even like networking Just kind of like getting things to put on your resume at least in my experience. They haven't been super Social so if that's like kind of what you're thinking about with the society I would sort of like change your perception They are gonna be a really cool way for you to get to know people so societies in the UK they can range on any sort of topic There are societies for like your field of study athletic activities dancing ice skating people who like to look at art book clubs food Societies baking societies. I think that there's even like a wine and cheese Society at Edinburgh or something like that, which is just really funny to me so the way that these societies work is they usually have about one to two events a week and One event is always going to be you doing the activity that you the society likes to do So if it's like the baking society like they they go and they bake for once one time a week But then they might all meet up at the pub for a drink another day of the week So this is a really great way to get to know people even just experience different parts of the city So if you're only going for like a semester joining a society You know you may not get to like know people as deeply as like maybe you want to because a lot of times like if you're Studying broad like you want to travel on the weekends It's easier to sort of make friends with other study broad students who have the same like priorities as you however Societies can provide like a really cool way for you to experience Student life in that city I also had a friend take me to like a Christmas dinner for her society And that was a really cool thing that I got to experience just because of it So I think that they're a great avenue to a like try something new and be just to meet new people Okay, so number two is going to be go on Facebook join study abroad or like new student Facebook Joining a Facebook group for study abroad students or like if you're a grad student who's only going for a year There are going to be a study abroad groups for those students and a lot of the times people will just post in there Like I remember I saw a post where someone was like I love going to the ballet Does anybody want to go to the ballet with me? And I swear to God like 15 to 20 people responded to this girl And they all I'm assuming that they all went to the ballet together and I just thought that was like the nicest way I've ever seen Facebook use before I feel like if I posted that in like a college of Charleston Facebook group People will be like what are you doing? But I would say that the culture is a lot more like open on Facebook And it seems like a lot of people are very willing in those groups to actually meet up and like become Friends people with like interests so I would definitely start there number three is going to be say yes to as much as you can Your first week so this applies to like college just in general to like I think that that first week You just really have to commit yourself to like pretending to be an extrovert Even if you are not and half of those people you may never even see again But you know I'm sure that you will meet at least a handful of people that you really like because of those experiences and I just Think that that is a really good way to Just get like some sort of footing in your new city number four is going to be look out for your ESN network This is the Eurasmus student network. Eurasmus stands for like European student like I think Eurasmus is like Euro European so I don't know that didn't make any sense, but you know what I mean I at first was like, oh, I can't go to those events because I'm American I am not a European student who is at the school. I am from North America However, I had my friend convince me to go to one of their events and half people were there were from Canada and the USA And what's really cool about this group is it's students who study to broad It's a lot of other study broad students from all over the world Trying to meet each other and hang out and they hold weekly events But then I also went on a lot of their like trips So they're like student trips and I actually got myself like a card So if you've seen any of my other vlogs like where I went into the highlands Those were all through the Eurasmus student network I think it's just a really great way to see the country and see it like safely with other study broad students Definitely recommend doing that number five is going to be go to dorm events and get to know your flatmates at first week I went to a lot of dorm events Just like people hanging out in the common room and that's how I met a lot of my friends who were like actually in my dorm I did not have the luxury of flatmates because I've had such awful Remain experiences. I personally decided to just live in a hall style dorm Which does make it a little bit harder to make friends Like you definitely have to advocate more for yourself and like get out there because when you are in a flat It's definitely a little bit easier to get to know like those four or five people really really well Because you sort of form like a little group You do a lot of things together and that can be a really nice support system Especially if you're only going for four months However, there is always the chance that like you're not going to get along with your flatmates Just like anything there are pros and cons and it's is just kind of like the risk you take most of the People that I knew who lived in a flat ended up absolutely loving their flatmates So it you know, it's just kind of the luck of the draw number six is going to be reach out to other study broad students So if you see somebody on facebook or instagram or even you just like meet somebody Randomly who you're like, oh, I like really like this person. Don't be afraid to just like ask them to get coffee I've got I've definitely gotten a lot better at this Over this past semester like the amount of times that I've just like gone for a drink with like a random group of people Or it just like hung out at a like a random event has has gone up way more than usual Um, and I think that's also just because after the pandemic everybody is just so like excited to be around other people again Which I completely understand and then number seven is going to be go to events so first like week that you're there there's going to be welcome events and Events for like study abroad students too specifically and I would say go to as many of those as you can And I know that this is how it is in scotland I don't know about other countries in europe But I would assume that you know, there's going to be like an international club wherever you go Even in the u.s. Like I know college of torelston has an international club for study abroad students Go to all of those events and make friends one of the biggest insecurities I think when you go to a new country is trying to see where you fit in in the culture