Caught a Case of the Homesick

I’ve been hearing from friends at other abroad programs admitting they’re homesick. While I did understand, I thought it would somehow skip me. My thought process was, “we’re in another country exploring other countries only for a short period of time. Study abroad will be gone in a blink of an eye, and when we’re home, we’ll be wishing we were still abroad. So why waste our time being homesick, and just enjoy where we are?” I was doing swell for a good amount of time and sticking to my initial thought. That is, until I traveled to Ireland.

I can see some of my readers already rolling their eyes thinking I'm trying to act super Irish. But, I'm not one of those people who claim to be super Irish because their cousins neighbors cat is 20% Irish. Yes, that was intended to be a hardcore roast to all Irish wannabe's. 

You see, my parents both immigrated from Ireland to America. They come from big families, and majority, almost all, of their siblings still reside there and have families of their own. My mom is one of twelve kids and my dad is one of eight. So yes, big families who are 100% Irish. My grannies still live there too. We try to go to Ireland as much as we can, but as everyone experiences, life gets in the way. So we haven’t been able to travel back to Ireland recently as much as we would like to. 

Homesickness spreads to many people, all over the planet on a daily basis. I thought I was safe this far into abroad, but I guess I was wrong. I think because I was so busy traveling and exploring Greece and other countries, I wasn’t necessarily allowing myself to be homesick. It wasn’t until I was leaving Ireland, that I was starting to get homesick. Saying goodbye to family members and hopping on a plane hurt my heart. So not only was I homesick for Ireland and my family members there, I began getting homesick for my family in New Jersey too. So basically, I caught a case of what many people were catching. The homesick. 

But, let me clear some things up. I was homesick, but I wasn't terribly homesick to the point to be looking up plane tickets to go home or counting down the days until I left Greece. I would say the amount of homesickness I was feeling was valid and a healthy amount, whatever that may be. It was like the cold. It was there, and somewhat worse at the beginning stage, but it will eventually get better with help of a daily dose, in this case of phone calls, video calls, and texts. But, I didn't think that traveling to Ireland would make me homesick. I thought it would've done the opposite.

The plane ride did hit me hard. I choked back tears on and off majority of the way back to Greece. While I do love Greece, I wasn’t exactly excited to go back. A week in Ireland was too short, and I didn’t even get to see everyone because I was only there for a short period of time. I didn’t admit to anyone that I was homesick, but what better way to admit something then on the internet?

I once read a quote by Miriam Adeney that said,

                    “You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be                         elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in                           more than one place.”  

And it’s true. I think everyone feels that way. And while I am still attempting to fight my homesickness, I’m going to listen to my original thought which I shared at the beginning of my blog, and enjoy where I am right now because in a blink of an eye I will be on an flight back to New Jersey and the past three and a half months will, sadly, be behind me. So for now, the best I can do is video call, text, and phone call my family and friends.