Moving abroad is never easy. From getting adjusted to the new culture to having your close friends and family suddenly live miles away, there are numerous things to get adjusted to. No matter how similar it is, it never feels just like home. Well, in order to get accustomed to life in Brooklyn we are here to help. A lot of the aspects of adjusting require you to just be present and slowly make yourself a part of Brooklyn, but for everything else, here is how to adjust as an expat in Brooklyn.

Do research in order to adjust as an expat in Brooklyn

As you start to adjust as an expat in Brooklyn there will be a lot for you to explore. We will give you some valuable information, but it is strongly recommended that you try and live there for a while, or at least visit it on a holiday before you move. A lot of facts about living in Brooklyn cannot be just put to paper and therefore have to be experienced first hand.

You will have to explore if you want to adjust as an expat in Brooklyn

Brooklyn's history

Every city is shaped by its history, and Brooklyn is no exception. Its history spans more than 350 years. It began in the 17th century as a small town of "Breuckelen" founded by the Dutch on the East River shore of Long Island. By the 19th century, it grew to be a sizable city and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City.

People of Brooklyn

Brooklyn is big and populous. With 2,648,711 residents (census estimate of 2017) it is the most populous borough in New York City. People of NYC are very diverse and interesting, and Brooklyn is no exception. And all of those residents live in a number of culturally and ethnically different neighborhoods. You have:

• Jewish Americans (around 600,000) that are mostly concentrated in Borough Park. Most of them are Orthodox Jews and Hasidic Jews.
• Chinese Americans (over 200,000) which are predominantly in Sunset Park along 8th Avenue. The so-called "Brooklyn Chinatown". Since most of the population is composed of Fuzhounese Americans, this part of Brooklyn is also known as Fuzhou Town.
• The Caribbean and African American communities are situated mostly in Crown Heights, Flatbush, Kensington and Canarsie neighborhoods. One of the largest communities of West Indians lives in Brooklyn.
• Latino American's largest hub in Brooklyn is in Bushwick. Nearly 80% of Bushwick's population is Latino.
• Irish Americans of the third, fourth and fifth generation can be found throughout Brooklyn. They are mostly situated in the neighborhoods of Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, and Vinegar Hill.

You will soon meet a lot of interesting people in NYC

Cost of living in Brooklyn

Brooklyn is not cheap. Although it has had a considerable growth in entrepreneurs and IT industry, it can still be hard to find a job. And you will need to have one if you want to adjust as an expat in Brooklyn. Monthy costs of living are around $1,137 for a single person. And that is without rent. For the rent itself, you can expect from $1818 outside of City center and $2609 for the inside of City center. So you will need to monthly earn between $2955 and $3746. It might be a good idea to try and find cheap housing in NYC once you get to Brooklyn. If you are moving to Brooklyn without a job, you will need to have enough to sustain yourself without income for at least six months. Maybe you'll be lucky once you move to Brooklyn and find work right away, but more often than not it takes months before a job is found. There is a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of competition so you will need a bit of luck.

How to move to Brooklyn

Once you have figured out where you would like to live in Brooklyn and how much it will cost, there are steps you should take to make your move as easy as possible. Every move is stressful and even more so if it is a long distance one. You should consider hiring Brooklyn movers if you want to have someone who knows their way around Brooklyn to help you out.

Packing

Packing is one of the things that can be properly done without professional help. Buy following a few simple guidelines, you can make yourself a packing expert. The primary thing you should keep in mind is that you don't know who will be handling your luggage. So you want to give that someone all the important information about your stuff. They need to know if the box they are carrying has anything fragile or heavy in it. So, what you need to do is to properly label all your boxes once you have them packed. Make sure that the label is clearly visible and easy to read. Next thing you should take care of is sorting your possessions. The more things you carry, the more it will cost. Especially for a long distance move, where you might have to rent a safe storage unit in NYC in order to have everything according to plan. If you don't need something, don't transport it. You can easily by and replace everything once you adjust as an expat in Brooklyn.

Hiring Movers

When you start looking for movers, you should keep this in mind. You want reliable movers, not cheap ones. And you need to know how to identify reliable movers. Long distance move is going to cost you some money. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is trying to trick you. One of the most common moving scams is for the movers to give you a low estimate and then take your possessions. Once they have them, they will proceed to dramatically increase their price and not give you your stuff back until you pay them. Hostage situation in a nutshell. Look for reviews and experiences other people have had with the company. To get the idea on how much your move will cost, get a couple of estimates from different companies in order to know what is a fair price.

Avoiding scams is priority number one!