This blows......

[pagemaster]

It's been two weeks, TWO WEEKS, and I'm already depressed about the fact that I'm here. It said in the study abroad handbook that this would happen, but I never actually believed it. I mean, I've wanted to go to China for about 4 years now, how could I possibly get depressed? Oh yea, I miss people. I know this is gonna sound stupid, but I haven't

Comments

[offloe]

I went away to France for a month in the summer a few years back. It was in a rural bumfuck middle of nowhere area and my host brother just wanted to watch TV all day.

The only response I had was to embrace the isolation. I wrote a LOT in my journal, took a lot of walks in the country, and went to the village every now and then but didn't really talk with people. Did a lot of self-reflection and decompressing. That's what helped me, anyways. Hope your next week is a little better.

[katiebeuds]

I havent really done the other country thing on my own. But I did switch coasts for college and am at the moment going through similar stuff again. Once you start classes things will get infinately better. You get to enter the world of socialization again. You may not have a complete circle of friends by the end of the week but even the amout of time you see people in class helps. Also you will have stuff to do.

I say go explore. Find things you want to see. But also give yourself some down time. Rent some movies and just veg for an entire day. Find something familiar. (Hard I know when you are so far away from what you are used to). You can get on line so write some e-mails. Find things to do to fill your time. Start a novel/movie/puzzle/tv series/something just so you have something mundane to do.

I got a netflix subscription and a lot of yarn. (sat in front of the tv and knit for days) It will get better I promise. In the meantime if you want some company over the phone or on line you know where to find me!

[flyingharmonica]

I, personally, have never dealt with homesickness. Probably because I've been moving around so often, making a new home (even if only temporary) is just something that comes naturally to me. But in the scouts, we had it happen to guys sometimes. I've seen perfectly normal, sane dudes bawling because they miss their mom

[dne_alwayz_irf]

and by all this you mean "have a wasabi eating contest!"

wUUUuSaaaaaaBI!

wuuuuuuuuuuuuuSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!?!?!?

WUUuUSUUUUUUUUBIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I don't manage it...

[mirthfulmurmur]

It's natural for most people...
I let myself feel homesick...nothing like distance makes you appreciate what you have at home.
Do everything everyone else said ( blah blah movies books journals knitting making bunt cake whatever...)
but also give yourself time... The people you miss *shrug* miss you. The places you want to see won't genrally go up in smoke by the time you get back. Change can be awkward and uncomfortable. But this is your time to discover who Ben is in China. If you had your druthers you may discover you would rather be at home than in China, but hey than you learned something. Sometimes new shoes take time to break in... So do new phases in your life...life is just bigger than shoes so it's a longer adjustment perioed.