Arcadia Ireland

It can be hard adapting to a new place, especially if you’re headed to a city that is very different from where you live. Weekdays might provide you with a bit of a daily routine due to your classes or respective program, but outside of that you need to set your own routine. The routine you establish will be individual to you and what you need to feel present and at home in your host country.

One of the routines I have established is going to the grocery store every few days. In London, food from the store typically does not last as long, so I have gotten used to buying less and going more often. In the case of my program, I am at St. Thomas’ Hospital every day from 10-5. While it is only my first week, I have now gotten into a routine of eating breakfast and dinner at my housing accommodation and lunch out. 

Including your housemates and roommates in the routine you are working on establishing can be helpful since you are likely spending a lot of time with them. In the morning, we set a time to meet up and travel to St. Thomas’ and take the tube there with whoever wants to come along. Once a week, all 7 of the people in my program get together for a potluck style “family dinner,” and we spend our lunch breaks together as well.  

If you typically exercise back home, it can be good to figure out a way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. For me, since I can’t walk to St. Thomas’ Hospital from my housing accommodations, I try to get up earlier in the mornings to go for a walk for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and grab a chai latte from Pret a Manger while I am out. 

There are many different ways to get into a routine in your host country, and no one routine is fit for everyone. The purpose of getting into this routine is to make you branch out and to feel like your host country is your home, even if it is only temporary.