Student Bloggers

Fun story: I became an auntie for the first time two months before I found out that I was accepted into UL and would be leaving in 5 months for an incredible trip abroad. When I left my little Jack Jack…I mean come on he’s so stinkin’ adorable… he was just starting to roll over on both sides. Now he has teeth coming in and eating more foods than formula. Needless to say when I get back he will have grown so much and I’ll have missed it. I miss him and my family a whole heck of a lot.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss home, I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t in LOVE with Ireland. Everyone’s abroad experience is different but one commonality we share is that we get homesick. If we haven’t yet, we will. It’s scientifically proven. Despite sharing the fact we will become homesick, the motions and coping mechanisms we go through with being homesick are different.

For me they come in what I like to call day waves. One day I will miss and think about my family, wanting to talk to them and wanting them to be here with me. Or I just want to be home where I have a pillow top bed, meals that I don’t have to cook (not often but the best!), cuddly dogs, and the greatest family and friends I could have asked for. This will occur for a day and when the next day comes I am back to being so in shock that I am actually studying abroad and is it practical to get a dual citizenship?

Throughout the entire time I have been away, I have used Snap Chat to talk to my friends on occasion and Whatsapp to text my mother at most two times a week. I’ve not Skyped or purchased a phone card to call home and it is the same way in reverse. They are not trying to contact me and that’s not a bad thing; on top of the fact we have an 8 hour time difference, they just want me to go out and experience Ireland and meet as many people as I can here. They will be around when I get back. So when I get homesick, I just think about the fact that they want me to live up Ireland as much as I possibly can and that encourages me to go out and engage in Ireland.

My situation is different from others. I know people who Skype and Facetime their families on a regular basis. Family has bought tickets to come visit for a weekend (Thanksgiving is quite the popular one). Others will talk about home to their new friends. Some invested in international phone plans so they could contact their parents nightly. Others will dwell on missing something from home that’s not in the country (decent peanut butter, rootbeer floats, and my car are some of mine). Someone may do all of these and then some! It’s alright to do that. You should miss home, it would be concerning if there was nothing you missed about your old life essentially.

You should also take the opportunity you gave yourself and live it up. Your family and friends back home would want to know you did everything you possibly could abroad and had the best time doing it. If you spent your time abroad missing home and missing out, you and they won’t feel like the trip was worth it, which is a horrible outcome to a once in a lifetime experience! I may miss my family and my nephew’s milestones now, but I’ll get to be the cool Auntie with the stories of living with an Irish family for a weekend, kissing the Blarney Stone, having a Thanksgiving dinner with Irish friends and so much more!

Homesickness is temporary but so is this trip. So go ahead and miss home. Send them a nice letter or phone call to let them know they are on your mind but don’t forget to go out there and experience the country you worked so hard to get to.