http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/4746911894/movingeurope
We were recently asked for advice from another mom moving to Germany with a 2 year old, and from LGO’12s moving across Europe for internships. After our experience last year living in Italy for six months, here is our advice for moving to Europe - with or without a child!
Books
- Bring children’s books in your native language (and books for you! I would have certainly bought a Kindle if I was in Italy longer.)
- Pocket translation dictionary
- Travel books (book stores in Italy didn’t have travel books for Spain written in English)
Pharmacy and Medical Care
- Bring a few staples from your home country (e.g. Tylenol, decongestant, thermometer).
- Learn where the pharmacy and hospitals are *before* you need it and what the policies are for care. It can be difficult to find a 24-hour pharmacy, and most items are sold behind, not over-the-counter and require a brief consultation. Even in small towns, we found there was frequently an English speaker at most pharmacies, but the hospital near by had few English speakers.
- Answer questions early on:
- What type of conditions do people go to a hospital for versus other doctors?
- Is health care socialized for non-citizens? Will you be receiving residence cards for you or your family?
- Will you have coverage through work? Do you have coverage for your family?
- Do they have professionals that speak your native language?
Socializing and People
- Introduce yourself and practice your new language; frequently they are interested to learn and practice English too. We found people here we could practice with before we went too!
- Ask other ex-pats at your new place about the culture and how to fit in and make native friends.
- Talk to your child about what it means to be moving, even if they don’t fully understand.
- Adjust your child to lots of new people by frequently going to new places where you live, and continue this when you’re travelling around your new country!
- Go to playgrounds and find other networks to meet families and to give your children experiences with other children from around the world. There are many great playgrounds throughout Europe! A great way to give your child a break from the museums and churches while you’re travelling.
- Most importantly, ensure visas and necessary paperwork are completed early for you and your family. Visas will likely need to be processed together for the employee/student with the family, but the regulations vary by country entering and the country of citizenship.
Household and Baby Items
- Bring a really good but small stroller. Stone and brick streets are everywhere, and our cheap umbrella stroller just didn’t cut it. We were ready to throw it over a bridge after all the frustration it provided (but not literally, that would be littering and wasteful).
- Talk to natives of the area for advice on baby products
- If you’re only living in the area for a short period of time, bring clothes you’ll need for the next size up. I found children’s clothes to be expensive, and we were happy to instead spend our time and money travelling.
Phones and Electronics
- Bring adapters for personal electronic devices (phone, laptop, GPS) and buy small appliances in the country (iron, fan, toaster oven). For powered items, we checked that our gadgets were 120-240VAC and 50-60Hz compatible (almost all laptops and ipods are).
- Some US phones can be ‘unlocked’ and used with a new chip in Europe. A GSM phone can be unlocked (sometimes Verizon won’t unlock a phone though). If you don’t have a GSM phone, consider buying a cheap used phone as it is harder to find cheap used devices in Europe. We got pay-as-you-go phone chips. Vodafone is good around Europe or we used an Italian provider called Tim. US contracts can be cancelled or postponed until your return. Caution, sometimes phone chips do not work well outside of your new country, and it can be easier to buy new pay-as-you-go chips as you travel.
- Google Voice and Skype are great for calling home. With an internet connection, you can call any phone in the US for free. And, you can be called for free if you are online, and if you are offline you will get a digital voice mail that you can listen to and read later (great for the time zone difference). Calling an international cell phone from the US with either Skype or Google Voice can cost 20-30 cents/min, but calling an international land line is only 2 cents/min. Then set your default phone number to your google voice number. As I’ve blogged about before, this was extremely helpful during full-time job recruiting.
Financial
- A lot of places in Italy didn’t take credit for small purchases, so we carried Euros.
- We used Capital One credit cards which were good for no conversion fees. Also important when purchasing airline tickets online from an international airline (i.e., Swiss, Lufthansa)
- We had Italian bank accounts, so we used those for ATM cards. Otherwise, look for a US card without fees.
-Kacey Fetcho-Phillips
