Enjoy Being a Tourist While You’re Setting Up Your New Home Fantastic! Your
household move is completed. You’re in your new home and just getting into unpacking and putting everything away. That’s a lot of work, for sure. But there is yet another thing you should be doing. And the sooner you do it, the more contented you’ll be. You should be getting acquanted with your new city.
Certainly you investigated where you’d be going when you first set your mind or first discovered you had to move. Now that you’re here, though, it’s time to really get comfortable with your surroundings …
- Take a walk and explore your new neighborhood – get to know the “lay of the land,” introduce yourself to the neighbors, seek out nearby parks and recreation areas, calculate the most direct route to your children’s’ schools (either by foot or by car)
- Find the closest businesses to cater to your needs – supermarkets, shopping malls, gas stations, movie theaters coffee shops, fast food places, restaurants, libraries, bookstores, and the like
- Visit the nearest “Welcome Center” and get yourself some brochures pointing out local attractions that suit your fancy – art museums, historical museums (especially those focused on local history), sports arenas, bike and walking trails, convention centers, and theaters or auditoriums that offer stage presentations, for example
Then again, one of the fastest and easiest (if less vivid and personal) ways to research your new community isn’t by foot or by car – it’s by way of the Internet. Google, Google Maps, Yelp, and Citysearch are among today’s preferred online resources for uncovering local attractions. They’ll guide you to^pinpoint}78} all the most popular gathering places your community has to offer. Don’t just take the word of online reviews, though. Go to the recommended places and make up your own mind whether you like them or not.
Not really comfortable with the Internet or phone apps? That’s all right, just stay with actual physical exploration. That’s normally the best way to get to know a place, anyhow. Heading out and speaking with people in person generally leaves a more dramatic impression than does picking information off a computer or phone screen. Still, the Internet can at least give you a preview of what’s available.
Here’s another thought. If you really want to get acquainted with people in your new hometown, find local clubs and organizations that accord with your interests, your hobbies, or your worldview and join them. You might also contemplate involving yourself in some kind of local community service, making yourself useful to the school system, daycare centers, nursing homes, homeless shelters, rescue missions, government agencies, or whatever might best suit your talents. Funny thing about community service (and you intuitively know it’s true!): what you give to the community has a way “giving back” to you. And it won’t be long before you start feeling that your new hometown is home indeed and you’re a tourist there no more.