According to a recent study by the international health insurance company Aetna, 76% single expats find it hard to date abroad. Language barrier, relatively small social network, lack of awareness of the dating etiquette in the new country, amongst others…
Understanding the culture of the host country
First and foremost, it is of utmost importance to understand the culture of your host country. This will give you the very first tips of how to get out there, what is expected of you and what you need to expect, of course. Here is what you should take into account:
- Religion: How important is it in your host country? What are the customs in terms of dating, marriage...
- The cultural differences: You come from a Latin country where punctuality, for example, is very loosely respected but you, now, live in an Anglo-Saxon country. Think about those habits that may seem rude or strange for other cultures.
- The dating period: Dating, or the period of time that precedes marriage or the formation of long-term couples is different in different countries. In the United States, for example, the dates are formalized by appointments in restaurants or elsewhere quite conventional. So be sure to respect and adapt to prevailing morals in terms of flirting and dating
Extend your social network
Once you have a good command of the culture of your new country, you will be ready to start looking for a partner. But here again, things will not always be smooth. When you move to a new country you do not necessarily have a very developed social network, which makes dating complicated. You will need to build a social network and these can be helpful:
- Romantic mobile applications like Tinder...
- Dating mobile applications like Meetup, which allow you to meet people with common interests.
- But most importantly, you need to get involved in the social and associative life of your new city… Get out there, you will be having fun, and meeting a lot of potential love interest!
Expand your expat social network
For some reasons (short period of expatriation, inability to speak the local language ...) you may be tempted to "date" within the expatriate community of your host country. In this case, you will have a good range of options to connect with other single expats starting with Expat.com forums. Also, think about Facebook groups and Meetup between expats. Today, there are also romantic applications that particularly help you meet other expats.
