This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pace chapter.
I never thought I would be missing home the way I am. It’s been three months since I moved from El Salvador to the United States for college and here is a list of things that makes me feel gloomy every time I think of them.
- Food. It doesn’t matter if I’m in New York- in a city where you can find any kind of food- my country’s food is something I always miss. If you’re lucky enough to find restaurants that sell your country’s food, it’s never the same. It’s more like an attempt, it doesn’t have the same quality.
- Family. Even though I don’t consider myself an emotional-lovey-dovey-dependent person, I have to admit that I miss my family. Asking my parents for advice, arguing with my brothers and getting spoiled by my grandma, it all makes me feel homesick.
- Weather. Where I come from it’s Summer year round, sure we have some rainy days, but overall Summer rules my country. I get to wear shorts, t-shirts and sandals all day- almost every day. It is weird and sometimes annoying going out with lots of layers of clothing, just to be kind of warm. Cold weather for me starts with the 60s, by the 50s I’m freezing, and below that I wonder why I chose to come NYC.
- Friends. Being in college means meeting new people, which is easy, the difficult part is making actual friends. Luckily enough I have made friends here but I do miss the ones that are back home.
- Music. I am big fan of English music, believe me. But after a month of moving to America I found myself downloading Latin Music. I guess I was missing the rhythm of these songs, dancing and singing along them.
- Language. Even if there is a lot of Hispanics in NYC, and when I say a lot I mean A LOT, that doesn’t change the fact that isn’t the same. I miss hearing my country’s accent. Just as the accent is different between England and America so too do the accents change between El Salvador and other Spanish speaking countries. It gets kind of difficult to try talk to another person who isn’t from El Salvador, we have slightly different words, phrases, sayings and it’s never quite the same.
- Pets. I miss my children or as normal people would call them, “my dogs”. I have two boys back home who love me as much as I love them. Every time I FaceTime with my family they put my dogs on it too, they already know that it’s a requirement in our video calls. Lately I’ve been considering volunteering at an animal shelter because I miss petting my dogs. I have this love inside of me which I have to give to other dogs.
In spite of all these things, I am enjoying this life changing experience. I mean I’m in NEW YORK CITY, what else can I ask for?