Being away from home might be tough, especially when the weather and daylight time is drastically than back home. However, I have found no need to feel home sick in Boston, since I have set my mind into enjoying and taking advantage of every moment as much as I can, because in a few months everything will just be a memory. It certainly is okay to miss your family sometimes, and it is quite normal to miss your regional food (trust me, I miss tacos so much). But the thing about being home sick though, is that it makes you not want to be in the place you are at the moment, and it makes you sad and lonely. For all these reasons, it is important to avoid getting home sick in one of the best cities in the world… and how have I done that? I will tell you.
I try to keep busy everyday; it really isn’t a hard thing to do in Boston since there are plenty of activities to do and plenty of foods to try. I always wake up realizing that I have one less day in Boston and that soon enough I won’t be spending time with the friends I have made, and I won’t be enjoying the dining hall food, etc. When I get a slight tender feeling of missing home, I think to myself… this is home, it might be temporary but it actually has become home and we have built a family here. Consequently, I have full support every day and all my worries and homesickness flies away. One day I remember waking up, I was missing my home so much, and I Face-Timed with my dad and I started to feel sad, which is completely normal after a month or two of being away. I really didn’t want my dad to realize I was sad, so I hung up after a few minutes. After a couple of minutes I started to think about all the things I miss and then I instantly evolved my mind into thinking about all the things I would miss about Boston, and gratefully, my mind realized that there are more things that I will miss from Boston than any of those things I miss from home. It is tough to miss your family, but thankfully technology has granted us the opportunity of speaking with them every day and we are lucky enough to have the chance of sharing this experience with them.
When you feel home sick, speak with your friends; they are your family here and they will support you to the fullest. The most important thing is that you keep busy and take advantage so that those slight feelings of homesickness drift away from your mind as fast as possible. Go to the gym, read a book, go to a nice dinner! Every single activity works. And trust me, it is okay to feel home sick…. It is okay to admit it…. But it is way better if you try and shift those thoughts into appreciation and love for your experience abroad. After feeling home sick sometimes, I realize how happy I am when I am actually not, and that is when I realize I should never take for granted my experience here, because it makes me feel amazingly joyful. So whenever those bad times kick in… think about all the good ones, and all the missing incredible ones that are to come.
“There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience” - Immanuel Kant
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