For example, moving around in my own country (UK) I’ve found it difficult to settle, lay roots and build a solid social bubble. I think a factor is that people are usually in well established families and social bubbles by this age (mid 30s).
Another factor specific to the UK is that friends/family are usually fairly commutable wherever you are. I imagine this is different with the US, in that if you move state you are fairly isolated, and so there’s more emphasis for building new social foundations perhaps?
I wonder if it’s like this as an expat? You are, along with most other expats, having to build a new. Doesn’t this lend itself to an easier social building experience? Well, with other fellow expats at least. I guess building it with locals is another challenge completely.
Or am I being naive? Is it just as difficult to “gain entry” into such communities? Again, I guess it varies on location, but I’d be interested to hear your experience.
Last time I moved to another country for work, I found it very handy using a website aimed at anglophone expats to that country. Regular weekly social meetups, and many of the regular attendees had already been in that country several years and had picked up language skills and had local friends. So not only was I able to ease the ‘culture shock’ of being mostly unable to communicate with most locals I met, but these ‘long-termers’ were very helpful giving various tips on how to integrate quicker, how to get through various bureaucratic procedures and also introduce me to a few cool locals as well.