Honest question because I'm in the wobbly bit. Everything works on paper but I don't feel at home yet. For those further along — how long did it take, and did it arrive gradually or all at once?
About a year for me, and it arrived suddenly — one ordinary Tuesday I realised I hadn't felt foreign all day. You don't notice it building until it's there.
The day I dreamed in the language I knew something had shifted. Before that, "functioning"; after, "living". No idea why that was the marker but it was.
Gentle reality check: settled doesn't mean no hard days. I'm years in and still get the occasional wave of homesickness. It just stops running the whole show.
Finding "my" café — the one where they know my order — did more than any milestone. Little roots. Grow a few and the big feeling follows.
"Little roots." That reframes the wobbly bit as something I can actually do something about. Thank you — needed this today.