I miss my mommy

September 08/09/10 Homesickness.


I guess I started to miss my family and friends, pretty much as soon as I left. In the airport especially while just sitting waiting 7 hours for my next flight. But I don’t know if this is normal homesickness, because there was quite a lot going on back at home when I came over here so I was mainly thinking about mistakes that I’ve made and it was really hard for me. Homesickness and then adding culture shock is just not fun. The thing for me I guess was like comparing to my tiny 700 person town and my school town [I know it’s not good to compare but it happens subconsciously it seems because obviously coming to the city of Salvador I was not expecting to find my home town], I could always just walk around at night and didn’t have to depend on anyone to be able to go out at night. But here it’s just always risky to be out at night [even in the day sometimes]—but even more so alone—and as a woman—and as a tourist! It is pretty hard at first just having that kind of change. And also I guess I was missing my friends and partner too because I knew that they would have had similar plans as me, and being here there are so many things that I would like to do, but I feel like I’m dependent on having someone else-- for safety reasons--to come with me, and that pretty much makes my activities dependent on someone else wanting to do the same things, and yeah you have new peers to get used to. Luckily my group seems to be pretty cool and diverse like there should be someone with whom most people can relate. But it’s kind of hard to get together sometimes because we don’t always live so close and I don’t have a cell phon, and all those things just really affect my social life.


So how to cope with it? Well I always keep in mind that 3 months go by really really fast. But also my host family is oh sooo welcoming and I feel cared for and my mãe is just extremely affectionate. Once in a while she’ll grabs my face “oh soninha!” and kisses it. The first few times I didn’t know how to react really so I just kind of laughed and smiled.

me, my host sister, and her namorado having ice cream together. like invite me out with them and it's really super cool we have good times.

this is the famiily and part of the namorado's famly at their house in arembepe. just chillin'. i just don't have their permission to show their faces and, although i think that eventually i'll end up showing my face 'cause it makes pictures look awkward but...whatever. for not this will do.

But apart from that having skype really helps. [it’s a program that works pretty much like a phone over the internet and it’s free between computers and cheap if you’re calling from computer to a landline; you can download it for free at skype.com] but I can only chat right now because my computer won’t connect to the internet and my sister’s laptop (which she’s so nice in letting me borrow) doesn’t have a mic, camera, or functioning speakers. But regardless it helps. And just keeping in touch with family back home--even if it’s just through email, is very soothing. But these would just be flows of home sickness, that happen usually when I am by myself at home, especially when my plans were changed due to other people’s plan changes. But of course while you’re out seeing the city and especially on the tours, and traveling, or just hanging out with your peers having a bowl of acai, and you let yourself enjoy what you’re living at the moment, it’s all good.



I heard that usually by the second and third week your homesickness just goes away. And by the 3 week if you have culture shock, I think around this time it’s pretty much over too.



possibly helpful links for homesickness:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2058286_deal-homesickness-during-study-abroad.html



http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0405/combatting_homesickness_abroad.shtml

http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/living/more/dealing-with-homesickness-living-abroad-10290/