Fellow expats, this question was probably asked thousands of times but yeah. How do you cope with expat loneliness and how long did it take you to make some actual friends? I have been living in a different country for one month and I just can’t stop feeling lonely and alienated.
I’ve been in Portugal for 9 months. I too am an introvert. But moreso than you as I won’t go to the local expat meetup. Too many people. I am in the very early stage learning Portuguese so speaking with locals isn’t possible. I’m not in Lisbon or Porto so English isn’t quite as common where I’m at.
Despite being an introvert I do like spending time with friends and crave that. But my introvertedness makes that improbable.
I’ve resigned myself to having my US friends and family visit every few years. That’ll be my time to get the constant loneliness out of my system. Unless a Portuguese extrovert knocks on my door and adopts me I don’t see things changing.