My 6 Months Anniversary
Six months ago I landed in Vietnam with two suitcases and absolutely no idea what I was doing.
Somehow, it’s already been half a year?!
Which is strange, because part of me still feels like I just arrived. I’m still getting acquainted with the city, still figuring out how things work here, and still discovering places I somehow hadn’t noticed before. Ho Chi Minh City is the kind of place where there’s always something new around the corner, so even after six months it doesn’t feel like I’ve fully caught up yet.
Six months isn’t a long time, but it’s long enough to learn a few things. So here’s what I would tell the girl who had just landed.
1. Don’t Stop Meeting People
I wasn’t particularly worried about making friends when I moved here. I’ve lived abroad and moved cities on my own before, and it’s always worked out eventually. You find your people.
What surprised me about Ho Chi Minh City was how quickly it happened.
There’s something going on here almost every day, events, new cafés opening, fitness classes, language exchanges, random rooftop gatherings. If you leave your apartment and go to things, you will meet people. Within a few weeks I’d already met some weird and wonderful characters and started building a circle here.
But after a while I realised how easy it is to fall into a routine. You start seeing the same people, going to the same places, doing the same things every week. At one point it almost started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day.
I’ve noticed I tend to do this wherever I go, at school, during my masters, in other cities I’ve lived in. Once I find a group, I settle there and stop putting myself out there as much. But it’s a habit I’m trying not to repeat here.
This week I’ve actually been invited to a couple of events. Normally I’d ask if someone wanted to come with me so I’m not walking in alone, but this time I’m planning to go by myself.
Realistically I’ll probably recognise a few people, the expat community isn’t that big and I know the host, but I like the idea of walking into a bar alone again and chatting to new people. It reminds me a bit of when I first arrived here, when I’d just show up to things and see what happened.
It’s easy to settle once you’ve found your circle, but there are so many interesting people in this city that it feels like a shame to stop there.
2. Paperwork is Never Ending
The visa situation is not a one-time hurdle. It’s more of an ongoing background task.
Most of my biggest admin struggles happened in the first few months. Some of the drama wasn’t even Vietnam’s fault, shoutout to the UK, but there was a period where I felt like I was constantly running around the city trying to track down the right person to sign a document. Which sounds simple until you realise that person is never where you think they are.
Just as everything finally seemed settled, the government introduced a new rule making e-visas mandatory for expats. So naturally I spent three hours in immigration getting fingerprinted, photographed, and processed for various official things I didn’t fully understand.
And then yesterday I had to sign more labour contracts. I’m still not entirely sure why, but sometimes the best approach is just to show up, smile, and sign the paperwork.
Although I will say: please actually read what you’re signing. Don’t copy me and just skim it.
The reality is that when you live abroad, paperwork never really disappears. There’s always another visa update, another form, another small administrative thing that needs sorting.
In fact, I’ve literally just had an email about new laws being introduced for expats renewing or signing contracts, so that will be… interesting.
It’s not difficult, just occasionally inconvenient. And sometimes expensive. People who have lived here for years still end up doing last-minute visa runs because something went wrong.
It’s all part of the fun of living abroad.
3. Life Slows Down a Little
This one is more for a much earlier version of me.
The version that used to stress about everything. The kind of stress that would genuinely make me feel ill, nosebleeds, stomach cramps, the whole thing.
If that version of me could see how calm I am most days now, she’d probably think this was the dream.
Of course, a lot of that comes down to the environment as well. Surrounding yourself with the right people, finding hobbies you actually enjoy, and getting into fitness that you look forward to each week does a lot for your brain.
But there’s another side to that.
When you live somewhere like this, a warm, exciting city where there’s always something going on, it can be very easy to slip into a comfortable rhythm. Good food, good weather, good people, plenty of distractions.
And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying that. That’s part of the reason for being here.
The only thing I have to watch is not becoming too comfortable. Relaxation is great, but I still want to keep pushing myself and moving forward. Finding that balance between enjoying where you are and still having some ambition behind what you’re doing.
If I lived next to a beach I’m honestly not convinced I’d get anything done at all.
So maybe the chaos of the city helps keep me on my toes.
4. Your Budget Will Change
At the beginning, I was extremely cautious with money.
It was my first time properly living on my own and paying my own bills. At university everything was fixed and included in the rent, so you could leave the lights on, charge your phone overnight, and never really think about it.
Real life obviously doesn’t work like that.
For the first couple of months here I was almost too careful. I remember sitting in my flat in the evenings with barely any lights on because I was so worried about how much electricity might cost. Eventually you realise you can’t spend your evenings sitting in the dark, you figure out roughly what things cost, and you relax a bit.
The same thing happened with food and going out.
At the beginning I mostly ate very locally. I live in quite a local neighbourhood, so cheap and good Vietnamese food is everywhere, and I also just wanted to try as much of it as possible. I still eat local food most of the time, but when I go out with friends we’re often in Thảo Điền, which is a lot more expat-heavy. That usually means western restaurants, brunch spots, and cocktail bars, all fun, just slightly more European in price.
Travel has shifted too. Last year most of my trips were around Vietnam, which is obviously very affordable. This year I’ve started planning more international trips, which naturally pushes the budget up a bit as well.
So technically I wasn’t wrong at the beginning, you absolutely can live here very cheaply. But once you settle in, make friends, and start enjoying everything SE Asia has to offer, it’s easy for your spending to grow.
I don’t mind that. I like being able to enjoy nice meals, fun places, and bigger travel plans. But I also don’t want to leave Vietnam, whenever that ends up being, with the exact same amount of savings I arrived with.
My main job is only about 20 hours a week, so it’s actually very doable to add a second part-time job into the routine without feeling overwhelmed. I’m currently trying to pick one up purely for the savings. That way I can keep enjoying the lifestyle here, the food, the travel, the experiences, while still putting some money aside for the future.
5. Decorate Your Room
For the first few months, I didn’t.
Partly because I’ve always had the mindset of “I won’t be here that long anyway, so what’s the point?” I wasn’t home much, and it felt easier to just leave the place as it was.
But at some point you will inevitably get tired, get sick, or just want a quiet night in.
And when your flat is just a couple of rooms with blank white walls and no personality, it can start to feel a little bleak. Almost a bit prison-like.
It’s surprising how much that actually affects your mood.
Once I finally started adding a few small things, something on the walls, a couple of personal touches, the whole place felt completely different. It stopped feeling like temporary accommodation and started feeling more like somewhere I actually lived.
Even if you don’t know how long you’re staying somewhere, it’s still worth making the space feel like your own. Because when those quiet nights inevitably come, you’ll want somewhere that actually feels comfortable to be in.
6. Let Yourself Change Your Mind
This one is for the stubborn side of me that needs to learn how to let things go.
I’ve realised recently that I can be very set on a plan. Once I decide something is the path, I tend to cling to it for dear life.
For years I’ve had this idea in my head that I would graduate, move to London, and get a corporate job. That was the plan.
Of course, that’s not exactly how things have worked out.
When I first moved to Vietnam, I actually thought I’d only stay a short time. Don’t tell my manager, but the original plan was to work half my teaching contract, start applying for jobs back in the UK, and head home once I had the “correct” role lined up.
But about two months in, when I actually started looking at those jobs, something didn’t feel right. Most of the roles wanted people to start immediately, and the idea of leaving Vietnam so quickly suddenly felt a bit ridiculous.
At first I thought maybe I’d just stay a little longer, eight months instead of six.
Now I’m even considering staying another year, or possibly moving somewhere else afterwards if the right opportunity appears.
And with the current job market in the UK being what it is, the realistic choice might simply be between being employed in Vietnam or unemployed in England.
When you write it down like that, the decision suddenly sounds quite obvious.
That said, if I do stay another year, I want it to be intentional. I don’t want to just drift along because it’s easy. I want to keep meeting people, building connections, learning Vietnamese properly, and seeing what opportunities appear.
I read a quote recently by Alan Watts that stuck with me:
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
I’m not abandoning ambition. I just think it’s okay if the path looks a little different from the one I originally imagined.
Sometimes changing your mind is the right decision.
With Love From Saigon
Anaïs
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