Your first days abroad will be chaotic and exhausting — that’s normal. Here’s what to expect day by day, and how to actually get through it.
Everyone prepares for the exciting part of teaching abroad. The flight, the new city, the first day. Nobody prepares for the chaotic, exhausting, overwhelming reality of those first days.
Your first days abroad will not feel like the dream you pictured — and that gap between expectation and reality is the most normal part of the entire experience. Here’s what to actually expect, day by day, and how to get through it.
If you’re still deciding where to go, our comparison of the best countries to teach abroad can help before you land.
That first walk through your new city — equal parts thrilling and disorienting.
Your First Days Abroad
Here’s exactly what each stage looks like — and what to actually do about it.
Day 1 and 2: Pure Survival Mode
You’ll be jet-lagged, disoriented, and overwhelmed, and that’s before you even deal with your apartment, which will either not be ready, match exactly what you imagined, or look nothing like it at all. Meanwhile, your school contact may respond slowly, and you may not know how to buy groceries, get a SIM card, or find your way around your new neighborhood.
This is normal, though. Every teacher goes through this, since the first 48 hours are about survival, not flourishing.
What to do: Find a supermarket first, then buy food and water. Sleep when you can, and skip the sightseeing on day one. Additionally, eat something familiar, and call home when you need to.
Days 3 and 4: Administrative Chaos
Many countries require you to register your address, open a bank account, get a local SIM card, and complete school onboarding paperwork, all within your first week. Some of this requires documents you may not have ready, while others demand fluency in the local language. Meanwhile, a few tasks mean visiting multiple offices in person, which only adds to the overwhelm.
What to do: Write a list of everything you need to complete administratively, then tackle one thing per day. Also, ask your school contact or another foreign teacher for help, since they’ve been through this too. Above all, don’t expect to finish everything in one day.
Day 5: Your First Day at School
Your first day at school will be both better and worse than you expected, since students will be curious about you, while colleagues welcome you but stay busy. You may not know where the bathrooms are, and the schedule may change without notice.
What to do: Arrive early, and bring a notebook so you can write everything down. Ask questions liberally, but don’t try to be perfect — instead, try to be present. After all, students respond to warmth and energy, not perfection.
The Emotional Roller Coaster of Week One
Those first days abroad almost always include at least one moment where you wonder what you’ve done, since loneliness hits, frustration hits, and the gap between the dream and the reality hits all at once.
This is also completely normal, though. Almost every teacher who has ever moved abroad has had this moment, and it doesn’t mean you made a mistake — it simply means you’re human, and you just did something genuinely hard.
What to do: Call or text someone you trust. Don’t make any major decisions in week one. Give yourself 30 days before evaluating whether this was the right choice. If loneliness is hitting hard, our guide to making friends when you move abroad can help you build community faster than you’d expect.
What Gets Better After Your First Week Teaching Abroad
Here’s the part that matters most: it gets better, and it gets better faster than you’d expect.
By week three, most teachers report that the chaos has settled significantly. You know your route to school, and you no longer need your phone’s map app to get there. You have a favorite café, and the owner might even recognize your order. You’ve started recognizing your students’ faces, and they’ve started recognizing yours — genuine recognition, the kind that makes a classroom feel less like a room full of strangers and more like a room full of people you’re building something with. The overwhelming has become merely new, and “merely new” is a much easier place to live in than “completely overwhelming.”
By week six, the new starts becoming normal. You’ll catch yourself doing something ordinary — riding a familiar bus, ordering food without hesitating, laughing at a joke a colleague made — and realize you’re not white-knuckling your way through the day anymore. You’re just living it.
And that’s really what teaching abroad is about. Not the highlight-reel moments, though those come too, but the quiet, steady shift from surviving a place to belonging in it, even a little. Every teacher who’s ever done this has moved through exactly what you’re moving through right now. The disorientation fades. The confidence builds. And one day, probably sooner than you think, this new life will just feel like your life.
By week six, the overwhelm fades, and moments like this start to feel normal.
FAQs: First Week Abroad
Q: Is it normal to want to go home during your first days abroad?
A: Completely normal, and you’re in good company if you’re feeling it. Almost every teacher who has ever made this leap has had a moment when they wanted to book a flight home. It’s not a sign you made the wrong choice — it’s a sign you’re doing something hard and unfamiliar, which is exactly what growth feels like from the inside. Give yourself 30 days before making any real decisions, and be gentle with yourself in the meantime.
Q: How long does the hard part of teaching abroad usually last?
A: For most teachers, the sharpest edges of the chaos start softening by week three, and things begin to feel genuinely normal by week six. Everyone’s timeline looks a little different, but the pattern holds steady: it does get easier, and it happens faster than you’d think while you’re in the thick of it.
Q: What should you prioritize in your first 48 hours abroad?
A: Keep it simple, and be kind to yourself. Find food and water, sleep when your body asks for it, and let go of any pressure to explore or sightsee right away. Save the adventure for once you’ve had a chance to catch your breath — it’ll still be there waiting for you.
Q: What administrative tasks need to happen in week one?
A: Most countries will ask you to register your address, open a bank account, get a local SIM card, and complete school paperwork, all within your first week. It can feel like a lot at once, so give yourself permission to tackle just one task a day rather than trying to check every box immediately. Slow progress is still progress.
Ready to prep before you even leave? The free checklist walks you through it, and the full toolkit covers everything you’ll need once you land.