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Five ways to maintain the bond with friends and family ‘back home’

Moving abroad can be daunting, especially if you’re used to regularly seeing close friends and family. It might not be as easy to drop in for a cup of coffee but with a bit of effort you can maintain and even strengthen your relationships.

Published: 31 January 2019 09:02 CET
Updated: 4 September 2023 15:18 CEST
Five ways to maintain the bond with friends and family 'back home'
Photo credit: Pexels

If you’re planning a long distance move, you’re probably feeling a wave of different emotions. Starting a new life is scary and exciting but it also doesn’t need to mean leaving the old one behind.

Find out how AXA’s Global Health Plans makes your move abroad much easier

Technology helps people to stay in touch despite the distance and can even act as a safety net following the move. For instance, when you take out a global health plan with AXA you can manage your international health insurance online and, with some of the plans, speak to a doctor by video. Anyone who has previously relocated will know how reassuring it can be to speak to a doctor in your own language, especially when you have children.

Perhaps best of all, technology allows you to easily keep in touch with friends and family, wherever you are in the world. So there’s no need to sit down and pen a five-page letter which takes three weeks to arrive!

Here are five ways to stay in touch with friends and family after the big move.

Video calling

There are plenty of apps which allow you to speak face to face (via video call, not teleportation). If you’re in different timezones, it can help to schedule a regular time to talk – ideally when the whole family is together and there are no tired or hungry children to contend with.

Click here to get support with your international health plan

Some of the most popular video calling apps include Skype, Facebook messenger and WhatsApp. If you’re connected to wifi the video call is totally free, otherwise you’ll be charged for the data you use. So there really is no excuse to not call your mum more often!

Send a letter

Expats no longer need to rely on snail mail to stay in touch with friends and family back home. That said, it’s still much more of an experience to send or receive letter. There’s something more personal about sitting down to read a letter someone has taken the time to write. If you have children, you could also ask them to draw pictures or write short stories to send with the letter – it’s a great way to get them to really think about the person they’re writing to.

…or a message

If you’re worried about things going missing in the post, send what you can over social media or email instead. You may already be speaking regularly by video call but so much happens throughout the day that you might want to share. Especially if you have young children! So get snap happy: take tonnes of photos and share them with friends and family on social media.

Everyday rituals

If you’ve moved abroad with your children, it’s up to you to make sure they feel connected to the people back home. Find ways to make grandparents part of your children’s everyday lives; set up a daily video call so they can read the bedtime story, tell your children stories about their family members or create a photo album that they help to organise. Distance doesn’t need to get in the way of closeness, you might just have to work a little harder.

Reconnect in person

Nothing beats a visit home but it can end up being quite tiring if you try to fit everyone in. Prioritise who you want to see and if you can, get them to come to you. Consider renting a holiday home somewhere central and inviting anyone who wants to see you to come there – it will save you driving up and down the country and tuckering the whole family out.

Find out more about AXA’s global health plans for wherever life takes you

AXA’s global health cover can help you stay in touch with friends and family, but they can protect you and your loved ones every step of the big move. Find out more about AXA’s international health insurance and tick one major relocation task off your list.

Presented by AXA.

AXA Global Healthcare (EU) Limited. Registered in Ireland number 630468. Registered Office: Wolfe Tone House, Wolfe Tone Street, Dublin 1. AXA Global Healthcare (EU) Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

AXA Global Healthcare (UK) Limited. Registered in England (No. 03039521). Registered Office: 20 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0BG, United Kingdom. AXA Global Healthcare (UK) Limited is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.

 
For members

NORWEGIAN HABITS

Five useful things to know before you move to Norway

Moving to a new country comes with plenty of unexpected lessons and surprises. Norway is no different, and here are six things you'll need to know before the move. 

Published: 7 May 2024 16:43 CEST
Five useful things to know before you move to Norway

Patience 

While you may presume Norway is an efficient society, and it can be once you get the ball rolling, plenty of patience will be required. 

This is because fixing the essentials can take quite a while. In recent years, long waiting times for residence permits have become common. 

Furthermore, once you are granted residence and given an identity number, setting up things like a bank account could take weeks or months rather than days. 

When it comes to getting a job, interview stages can take a while to get going, especially if periods like the summer holidays or Easter slow things down. 

A shortage of GPs and long patient lists make doctor appointments difficult. Meanwhile, if you decide to make a home in the country, you will likely need to live there for five to eight years before becoming eligible for citizenship. 

READ ALSO: What paperwork do you need to open a bank account in Norway

Norwegian flags 

Norwegians take great pride in their country, and as a result, their flag also features quite prominently. 

If you live in an apartment block, you can normally tell when it’s a neighbour’s birthday, as they will have the Norwegian flag on display. 

Norway’s flag is also featured prominently in other celebrations and festivities. The most famous of these is May 17th or Constitution Day. However, most stores will have year-round sections where it is possible to buy Norwegian flag decorations.

Week numbers 

This one can be frustrating to come to terms with, and for many, it won’t make much sense even after living in the country for a while. 

Norwegians use week numbers to refer to points in time, either in the past of the future. It’s common for you to hear phrases like “We will be closed in week 32, but reopen in week 33“ or “The project needs to be finished by week 42“. 

It’ll be typical for a local to rattle of week numbers and expect you to know exactly where in the calendar they are talking about. 

READ ALSO: Why Norwegians use week numbers instead of dates

Reserved locals can make it hard to make friends

One of the toughest aspects of moving somewhere new is establishing a new network of friends. 

Small talk isn’t really huge in Norway, and the locals are known for their reserved and private nature. 

It‘s unlikely that you’ll be striking up conversations on the bus or that you’ll progress beyond more than a polite greeting with most of your neighbours. 

This is done to respect privacy rather than to be rude or cold. 

However, this can make making friends difficult as plenty of locals don’t make too many more friends in adult life and are content with their circle.

Still, it’s entirely possible to form lifelong friendships with the locals, especially if you just give it time and have something like a shared sport or hobby to break the ice. 

READ ALSO: Settling in Norway: Five places to meet new people and make friends

Festival celebrations 

Norwegians love to celebrate, and that’s why you’ll soon be marking your calendar with events like sankthansaften or syttende mai. 

The best thing about these festivals or days is that they come with a whole host of specific traditions or foods. 

Sankthansaften see’s people gather round bonfires to celebrate the summer solstice, it’s also typical for children to collect wild flowers to put underneath their pillows so they can dream about their future partner. 

Santa Lucia is marked every year on December 13th, and some people make special buns and see children visit old people’s homes for light processions. 

Then they are the more individual family traditions that surround New Year’s, Easter, Christmas and May 17th. 

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