I left NYC and moved to Serbia after a painful divorce. Dating here feels impossible, and I should've considered these 4 things before leaving the US.

• Katka Lapelosová moved to Serbia in October 2020 after her divorce.
• Lapelosová doesn't plan on staying and wishes she would've been more patient before moving.
• She says she'll likely have to move away if she wants to have a healthy relationship again.

I'm a born and raised New Yorker with Slavic roots, but living abroad has been a dream of mine ever since 2008 — when I studied abroad in Prague. After I returned to the US, I earned a master's degree to teach English as a second language, preparing to make my dream a reality. Then I fell in love with my best friend from high school, who had never left Long Island, and everything changed.