Moving Abroad: How to Meet Other Expatriates

If you're moving to another country, one of the first things you wonder about - as I do when contemplating moving to Malta - is, "Will I make friends? Will I fit into this new culture?"

No one can predict how you will handle the culture shock or a whole new life, possibly away from friends and family. But there is one group that you can count on when you leave your home country: Expatriates--other people who have left their homelands to your new destination. (If you don't mind, I'm going to use the word expats instead of expatriates.)

While it may be great to find other Americans if you're an American, or other Germans if you're German, people from other nations will offer you a lot of support. Expatriates-no matter where they're from-have a lot in common-even if it's not their native language.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to meet expats before you even leave the US or wherever you hail from.

The Internet--This is one of the best way to meet other people moving to your new country. In fact, that's the way I've met all the expats I know so far.

Here's a good way to get started: Expat Focus.com has a lot of information on many different countries and numerous forums to meet people. Visit http://www.expatfocus.com/.

"Join our lively expat community today! Meet and learn from other expats in our forums, email discussion list and monthly newsletter. Get help finding overseas property, job opportunities abroad, international insurance cover and investment advice, including pensions and retirement planning."

There is one Internet group I checked out that had lots of information on every topic of interest or concern to someone moving abroad. (However, in my case it didn't list Malta as one of the countries it covered-which is the place of interest to me.) This one is called Expat Exchange.com.

Join an Interest Group

Look up a church, temple or other religious community. I met Helen, one of my best expat friends, through an article on the Jewish community in Malta. There was contact information, I followed through and Helen, an expat from England, came into my life. Since then I've been seeing her every time I go to Malta. And now Helen is awaiting my arrival in Malta as a permanent resident, inshallah--meaning G-d willing in Egyptian. (I hope she's happy once I get there. I can imagine how nuts I'm going to drive her.)

I also just recently discovered an Egyptological society in Malta. I'm very excited to join this group, also run by another Helen who also happens to be another expat from England. This group is also where I heard for the first time about American expats in Malta.

Once you move to your new national home, your expatriate friends will help you settle in, just as others helped them when they first arrived. But here's the best news of all: If you give yourself a chance-and with a little luck-at some point you will move beyond your expat group and mingle with the natives. And these people will become your friends.

How do I know that? Because, at least in Malta, all the expats I meet say their best friends are the Maltese who they get to know. That's very good because it shows how generally friendly the Maltese people are. (Of course, not every single Maltese person is friendly. One Maltese woman told me not to put cat food on her doorstep when I was feeding about 20 stray cats on one street during a two-week stay in Valletta. The nerve!)