Dublin and Homesickness
Dublin
I am in Dublin, Ireland for the semester to study abroad at Dublin City University (actually in Glasnevin, very quaint). This is the first time I'm feeling comfortable enough to talk about where I am online other than emailing my parents and some short things on Facebook. Homesickness hits everyone different ways and for me has happened differently each time I've gotten it.
Homesickness
It's happened many times (probably) but the first times I remember happened at Girl Scout camp, then on a week long trip to Keystone Science School in the Rocky Mountains with my 4th grade class. Those times was fine the first night or so, but then the second night the tears came. And then I was over it. They were both relatively short trips, about a week for both. When I went to Japan the summer after freshman year of high school, I probably should have been more homesick than I was, but I had two friends with me, creating a different traveling experience. On this trip, despite our group being 48 people, I feel alone, which probably contributed to more homesickness than I've felt in a while. While the experience can be compared to leaving home and going to college the first time, it is still different. I was sad when my mom left me at my dorm my freshman year of college, but I do not remember disliking everything as much as I do now. Maybe it's because I do not feel close to anyone here combined with culture shock and jet lag, but it's taken a week for me to not feel sick at least ones for the whole day. Other people have made friends, and it doesn't help me that a ton of people came here already knowing people. I am not a party person; I don't like to go out every night; I don't even drink that much; and I don't smoke, so there is an immediate disconnection I feel with a lot of the others here.
There are times I've felt interested in my surroundings, but the lows are very low and I've felt depressed, and cried. I still have not thought, "God, I'm so glad I came here." I've wanted to fly home, to my normal college. I still think I made a mistake coming here, that I should have gone to Australia with my friend, or I should have picked a much larger, or much smaller program. I really hope these feelings will go away. Maybe things will be better when classes start. We were told that we would feel a high of excitement when we got here, then we would crash once culture shock hit. Maybe I just skipped the high.
I went out today, took a walk in the park right by DCU, which helped me gain some confidence in the thought that I don’t need to hang out with other people all day every day. That’s just the way I am. I’m on the road to recovery, hopefully.
I am in Dublin, Ireland for the semester to study abroad at Dublin City University (actually in Glasnevin, very quaint). This is the first time I'm feeling comfortable enough to talk about where I am online other than emailing my parents and some short things on Facebook. Homesickness hits everyone different ways and for me has happened differently each time I've gotten it.
Homesickness
It's happened many times (probably) but the first times I remember happened at Girl Scout camp, then on a week long trip to Keystone Science School in the Rocky Mountains with my 4th grade class. Those times was fine the first night or so, but then the second night the tears came. And then I was over it. They were both relatively short trips, about a week for both. When I went to Japan the summer after freshman year of high school, I probably should have been more homesick than I was, but I had two friends with me, creating a different traveling experience. On this trip, despite our group being 48 people, I feel alone, which probably contributed to more homesickness than I've felt in a while. While the experience can be compared to leaving home and going to college the first time, it is still different. I was sad when my mom left me at my dorm my freshman year of college, but I do not remember disliking everything as much as I do now. Maybe it's because I do not feel close to anyone here combined with culture shock and jet lag, but it's taken a week for me to not feel sick at least ones for the whole day. Other people have made friends, and it doesn't help me that a ton of people came here already knowing people. I am not a party person; I don't like to go out every night; I don't even drink that much; and I don't smoke, so there is an immediate disconnection I feel with a lot of the others here.
There are times I've felt interested in my surroundings, but the lows are very low and I've felt depressed, and cried. I still have not thought, "God, I'm so glad I came here." I've wanted to fly home, to my normal college. I still think I made a mistake coming here, that I should have gone to Australia with my friend, or I should have picked a much larger, or much smaller program. I really hope these feelings will go away. Maybe things will be better when classes start. We were told that we would feel a high of excitement when we got here, then we would crash once culture shock hit. Maybe I just skipped the high.
I went out today, took a walk in the park right by DCU, which helped me gain some confidence in the thought that I don’t need to hang out with other people all day every day. That’s just the way I am. I’m on the road to recovery, hopefully.