How long did it take you to adjust to your new community after a big move?

Well, there is a plethora of languages spoken where I live anyway, and I just have to drive a few miles to go from Thai town to Korea town, to little Armenia…

But to answer the question, I moved from L.A. to the suburbs of Sacramento and I never got used to it; I was there for almost 3 years. In fact I hated it, and it never felt like home, which is why I came back. To me (and I might piss astrochuck off) the Sacramento area is like the middle of America. The area is much too homogeneous and conservative for my taste. I never saw so many Bush/Cheney bumper stickers in my life.

Three years ago I moved 1,500 miles away from home. I left the town I where I had spent my entire life. My childhood, my friends, my memories, everything revolved around that town.

Everything is different here, the weather, the politics, the houses, the construction style, the air, you name it – it is different. It took me at least a year to feel comfortable here. It took that long to feel comfortable that I could drive around town without getting lost, to feel comfortable with my new neighborhood, the new attitude, the new landscape, the weather, the pace of life. For at least six months I woke up every morning wishing I could go home, and went to sleep praying for it.

Now I love it here. I do not plan to stay long term, but I also do not plan to return to my hometown. In the end the move was 100% worth the adjustment. I absolutely love the turns my life has taken since I arrived and I wouldn’t go back and change it for anything.

There are some things here I might never get used to, like the flat prairie and the crazy college sports fans, but I feel comfortable and very at home here nonetheless.

I moved from upstate New York to San Francisco three years ago. Part of me felt at home as soon as I got there and saw the ocean shining in front of me. The rest all came a little at a time—getting a job, finding friends. Now it feels more like home than where I live now, and have lived for the past year.

I moved from Colorado to Philadelphia when I was 14, and loved it. Felt like home immediately – there’s just something welcoming about Philly. Then I went back to Colorado for college, which of course already felt like home. Didn’t realize how much I had been missing the sky until I was back there. Then, after college, I moved from Colorado to Minnesota (to farm) for three months last year – which wasn’t ever meant to be home, just a break from life – and then on to NYC (where I’m at now) for at least a few years. I still feel a lot of animosity towards the city. I lived in the Bronx last year, and it never felt like home. But I love where I live now in Jersey. And I have a great job, and am gradually coming to know my fellow philosophers, so I’m feeling a lot more settled in. It’s still hard – I dislike going out to bars unless they have table shuffleboard, and it seems like clubbing and bar-hopping is anyone does around here at night; the nearest disk golf course is still way too far away; all my friends live in Brooklyn – but I’m starting to see what you guys find magnetizing about the city. Guess all I had to do was move 10 minutes away from it.

I moved from Las Vegas to the cornfields of central Illinois when I was 16 and it took me several years to adjust. In fact, I hated it so much in Illinois that my parents bought me a one way ticket back to Vegas as a graduation present. I ended up in California for two years while I attended college, then I went back to Illinois for financial reasons.

Illinois slowly grew on me. I started to enjoy the change of seasons, the sense of community and small town atmosphere. You couldn’t pay me to live in a large city now.

Once you met some humble people, everything seems a bit easier.

It seems to me like a very radical change when it take two days to get back home, and we can’t just drive over and take Mom to her doctor appointment, or drop the kids off for an hour or so while we go shopping. It’s a radical change when getting together for a family dinner requires several months planning and several nights motel rooms, instead of just buying some food and waiting for everyone to get to the house.

I miss not being able to get up in the morning and visit the beach for breakfast before work, and knowing I can drop in on Sis any time of the day or night. I miss not going to the playground with the grandkids, and having to drive 500 miles just to see them graduate from highschool. I miss not going to the award ceremonies of the nieces and nephews, and going camping with their Scout group.

It’s been a radical change moving away from just about everything that really counts, even if it is only 500 miles.

We moved just about every year of my childhood, generally from one coast of the US to the other and sometimes to another country altogether. As long as I didn’t drive I could feel at home as soon as I found a friend that lived on the same street. Once I got a driver’s license it took a bit longer, probably about a month or so.

However, some places feel like home right away. Calgary was one such place, and so is Austin, Texas.

I only moved 60 miles away, but it may as well be another country. I’m still not comfortable in West Virginia. I miss my town in Maryland. :(

I just moved from a University in South Carolina to the University of Maryland @ College Park.

Huge change from the people, atmosphere, politics, and everything. Not to mention I went to a University with 8k students to like 40k students.

I’m adjusting to the change easily but focusing more on my studies is easier here because it’s not near the beach

I moved from Ireland to South Korea. It took me quite a while to adjust, as I moved by myself, didn’t know very much about Korea or the city I was moving to. I felt completely disconnected when I arrived, everything felt so incredibly different, the landscape, the high mountains, the endless high rises, the neon signs…I couldn’t believe that for the next year this was to be my home. As I started to meet people and settled into my job teaching English in a public school things gradually became a little easier. Even so I still felt lonely and thought about home a lot. Korean society is extremely different to Irish, one is collectivist, the other individualist, and I found it very frustrating at times. Communication was often a big problem, as was finding the foods I wanted. Now 6 months down the line I feel like I’ve finally made the adjustment. Instead of seeing all the negative aspects to Korea I can appreciate the positive- for example: it’s a lot cheaper than home, I can actually save money here, there is respect for older people, there’s little to no crime, there are endless opportunities to stay fit and I have the chance to take part in activities like mountain climbing and skiing which I would never do at home. I’m so glad I took the chance to move to Korea, it was difficult but definitely worth the sense of achievement and cultural insight I’ve gained.

I have just moved from the States to UK and I am having difficulties I didn’t expect. I have been looking forward to the move for more than a year, so I am surprised by my emotional meltdown. It has been less than a week, so I am giving myself time. My partner here thinks I’ve lost my mind, but is trying to be patient. It is like I feel disconnected or lost. I certainly hope I recover and can enjoy once more my partner and friends here!
I see that your post was made in September of 2009 and I am sure that all is well now for you. It just felt good to get that off my chest!