Hi, I’m Sam, the European Development Lead at Unison Health.
I studied at Duke University, grew up in New York City, and moved to London about two years ago.
Moving to London had always been a dream of mine. Before I moved, I had already done a lot of solo traveling, and I imagined myself adapting quickly — exploring the city, meeting people, building a life here naturally. And in many ways, London has become exactly that. It is completely and utterly home to me now, and I love it deeply.
But what surprised me was how emotionally complicated the transition actually felt.
Because alongside all the excitement and freedom and beauty, there were also moments that felt lonely, disorienting, uncomfortable, and honestly much harder than I anticipated.
And I think that’s something people do not talk about enough when it comes to moving abroad or studying abroad.
Sometimes we imagine that if something is exciting or meaningful, it should feel good all the time. But often the experiences that change us most are the ones that ask us to sit inside uncertainty for a while.
I remember after graduating university, during one of my first solo travel experiences, realizing how much being in unfamiliar and perhaps uncomfortable environments revealed about me. There were beautiful moments of independence and discovery, but there were also moments where I felt deeply uncomfortable, navigating unfamiliar places alone, missing people, questioning myself, feeling untethered from routine and certainty.
At the time, I kept thinking:
“I wanted this. So why does it also feel hard?”
Now I think the answer is simple:
because both things can be true.
The first 30 days abroad are often emotionally intense, even when students are outwardly having a great time.
You are adjusting to:
new routines,
new social dynamics,
new expectations,
different cultural norms,
possible language barriers,
academic pressure,
distance from the people who make you feel grounded,
and the strange feeling of suddenly becoming unfamiliar to yourself.
Even small things, grocery shopping, transportation, figuring out where to go when you need something, can become mentally exhausting when everything is new at once.
And one of the hardest parts is that many students expect themselves to settle immediately.
There can be this pressure to instantly create a new life:
find your people,
feel confident,
know the city,
be adventurous,
make every moment count.
But roots do not form overnight.
Community takes time.
Comfort takes time.
Belonging takes time.
Sometimes students panic during those early weeks because they think:
“If I don’t feel at home yet, maybe this was a mistake.”
But often what they are actually experiencing is simply adjustment.
And adjustment can feel surprisingly emotional.
You may feel:
excited one day and lonely the next,
grateful and overwhelmed at the same time,
energized one moment and emotionally exhausted the next.
You might compare yourself constantly to other students who seem to be adapting more easily. You might scroll through social media and feel like everyone else is having the perfect abroad experience while you quietly struggle.
But most people are carrying more uncertainty than they show publicly.
I also think there’s a difference between adventure and stability that people do not always prepare students for.
Adventure is exciting.
But stability is what allows us to feel emotionally safe.
When you move abroad, many of the things that once grounded you disappear all at once:
your routines,
your support systems,
your familiar places,
your automatic sense of belonging.
Part of the emotional work of living abroad is slowly rebuilding those anchors again.
That might look like:
finding a café you return to regularly,
calling someone who makes you feel like yourself,
joining a club,
taking walks without needing to document them,
allowing yourself quiet nights,
creating routines that make your nervous system feel calmer.
And sometimes, one of the most important things you can do during transitions abroad is simply having someone to talk to.
Someone who understands that these feelings are common.
Someone who has worked with students navigating similar experiences.
Someone who can help you process the uncertainty without making you feel weak for struggling.
I’m a huge advocate for therapy personally because it has helped me through so many periods of transition in my own life. Not because something was “wrong,” but because transitions are hard. Having support can make you feel less alone while you move through them.
At Unison Health, that’s something we care deeply about, helping students feel supported not only in moments of crisis, but also during the quieter emotional challenges that naturally come with living abroad.
Because struggling sometimes does not mean you are failing abroad.
Feeling unsettled does not mean you made the wrong decision.
Missing home does not cancel out the beauty of where you are.
In fact, some of the most meaningful experiences abroad happen precisely because they stretch you.
Living in a new place changes the way you see the world. But it also changes the way you see yourself.
You learn what comforts you.
What grounds you.
How you respond to uncertainty.
How to ask for support.
How to build connection slowly.
How resilient you actually are.
And eventually, if you stay long enough, something subtle begins to happen.
The once unfamiliar streets become recognizable.
The coffee order becomes automatic.
The city begins holding memories.
You stop feeling like you are visiting and start feeling, quietly, like you belong there too.
Not all at once.
But gradually.
And that process, uncomfortable, beautiful, difficult, expansive, is often where the real growth happens.