Arcadia Ireland

This week I'm going to share an article written by one of the students who studied in Spain back in 2019. She talks about a "new kind of homesickness" which she goes on to call "culture-sickness". To quote the student she says 

"I feel culture-sick. I’m not homesick because I don’t have a person, place, or feeling that I miss to the point of agony. I’m not experiencing culture shock because I’m embracing the favorable aspects of culture in Granada alongside its inconveniences. I’ve concluded that I’m culture-sick because I truly miss my culture". 

Can you identify with what this student talks about? 

You might also remember reading this from our Health and Safety team before you left to come to Ireland. This is preparing you for homesickness - give it a read! 

We welcome you to actively consider some positive mechanisms you can turn to when feeling homesick, culture shock, or just low. Adjusting to a new environment, while it can be an exciting time, can also bring up feelings of loneliness, sadness, anxiousness, frustration and/or other emotions. While it will likely pass as you become more familiar with your new surroundings, we would like to provide you with some tools to aid this process along. To preempt the situation, we would like you to use the below worksheet to consider positive activities you can turn to that will help you when feeling homesick or culture shock. As you start to fill it out, check out this blog on homesickness written by one of our overseas staff members. While this worksheet is not required to be submitted to us, we highly recommend just thinking through these few prompts to best prepare yourself for your time abroad!

To help you brainstorm what works best for you, each prompt has some ideas. Why not give it a go! 

• Things I do on my own that help (walk, journaling, going out to eat, grounding techniques, etc.)
• Signs I can notice in myself that tell me I will need to turn to my above activities (feeling low, tired, frustrated)
• Reminders to tell myself when I see signs (it is okay to give 80% if you are feeling 80%, I don’t have to do something new every day, today is a good day for selfcare!)
• Who can I contact to just feel grounded (roommate, friend, family member, etc.)?