Whether your abroad experience has been amazing or not, it is quite inevitable that you will get homesick during the holidays. Yes, I was going to Paris the day after Thanksgiving, but skyping with my family while they ate turkey didn’t allow Paris to distract me from what was going on at home. It was my first time ever not celebrating Thanksgiving in my own house and there was no way I was going to forget that.
Thankfully (pun intended), I was able to celebrate my Thanksgiving with the family I have made here. No, it wasn’t the same, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. To start off, turkey is almost impossible to find in Spain. So is stuffing, but thankfully we found an American food store with that. Therefore, I had my first ever vegetarian Thanksgiving. It could be worse, right? We had it all though; mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, and cranberry sauce. All that was missing was my house packed with the people I love.
It’s amazing, though, how close you can become with people you have just met. At first, I was terrified of having to make new friends. Then, I realized that at one point, I had to make friends back in Pennsylvania so how could it be different? It was, indeed, different, but in a good way. Being in another country creates a bond between people that is different from any other. The abroad programs throw their students into more orientation activities than any welcome week, which gives the students no other choice but to talk to their peers. And after only a few days, it becomes clear that those who pick certain cities have particular personalities that match every other student’s with whom they are currently abroad.
Of course, there are always groups of people who know each other already. In my case, there are about three schools that make up about 75 percent of the students in my program, which was intimidating. But I just had to remind myself that the other 25 percent were in the same boat as me, and that’s basically what kept me going. And in only a short time, my group of friends came together.
Somehow, the twelve of us, now known as “the fam,” were quite comfortable around each other almost instantly. Like I said, the personalities were so similar that we just clicked, and from there it was easy. Now, I travel with these people, have dinner with them at least once a week, and, as dysfunctional as we are as a family, they keep me sane. It shocked me how quickly we all became so close, but I was and am grateful for them in every way.
So, here I am with less than a month until I am on a flight back to the States. It is the most bittersweet feeling in the world. Like I said, I’m homesick and I can’t wait to see my family, but what about my family here? Although I have only known these people for a few months, it will be one of the hardest things to say goodbye.
This is what I hope everyone can have when they study abroad. So here’s my advice: open up and be yourself. I’m a shy person, and it was truly difficult for me to be outgoing at first, but I promise it is worth it. Yes, studying abroad is scary at first, but when it gets near the end, going home becomes just as scary.
“Here’s to the nights that turned into mornings with the friends that turned into family.” -Unknown