Almost certain this has already been mentioned, but subscribing to other communities outside of your instance is kinda clunky. Having to go to another site to browse their communities and plug whatever relevant community's link into your own instance's search?

Surely there has to be a better way to find other communities that doesn't involve having to go to another instance's website.

Hell no, not all the time. I'm sure it'd feel hot and stuffy wearing one of those.