People told me how hard going on exchange would be, and I
did believe them, but you can’t possibly really prepare a person for the fantastic and
depressing experiences they’ll have. They need to feel that for themselves. And
That’s exactly what I’m doing right now.
So, from years of exchange-students-past, the masters of exchange have developed the mathematical equation to the "exchange student curve". Here's how the curve works. The curve starts pretty high, when everything is
fan-freakin-tastict, when you arrive in the host country. Maybe a little bit of
homesick from the initial culture shock and the enormous jet-lag, but everything around you is
new and exciting and you're usually so busy you have no time to feel homesick. Check.
Been there, done that. I moved in with my first family, who I love, without a glitch,
I was picking up German really fast, meeting a ton of cool exchange students
from around the world, making friends, and was just being absolutely astounded by
the scenery and the fact that I was actually living in another country. It was an exciting time of trial and error, (like learning how to shop in an Austrian grocery store, and maybe getting stuck in one for a while cause I couldn't figure out how to exit but I hadn't bought anything), adaption to a different life, and realization of the perks of my sudden
amount of freedom. All in all it was just so unbelievably wonderful to be in
Austria, on exchange. And time flew by way too fast.
The next stage in the curve is said to occur three months, or
so, after arrival, and it’s when your emotional track starts going downwards.
Everything isn't so new and exciting any more, and your life is starting get into a routine. That’s when people start to feel the homesickness.
That’s about where I am now. I’m actually quite impressed with the accuracy of
prediction of this curve, but I guess there have been enough exchange students
before me to get it down pretty well.
Actually my down-curve was more like an unexpected nose
dive. It just came out of nowhere and hit me, for which, I guess I should
consider myself lucky. Rather than a slow drop as I begin realizing the differences and how much I miss things back home, over a long period of time, my nose-dive went pretty much straight down and straight back up.
I had a bit of and emotional breakdown, I was sick and was stressed about switching to my second family, but I didnt realize just how homesick I was until I had had my breakdown. But it was really a nose-dive down and and a nose-dive up. Already I’m
feeling better and am in high hopes that my emotional curve is on the
track back up.
I think homesickness is like that stage before a cold when
you haven’t yet realized you’re coming down with something, so it isn't bad
enough to keep you home from school, but you just feel sucky. It's hard to describe Homesickness, it's like feeling constantly unsatisfied, it's just uncomfortable, and it makes it almost worse when you cant understand why you're homesick because you're so freaking happy to be here. Having the emotional breakdown, is getting the cold. But you think about about it as the way to getting better. Because finally are you going to let yourself stay home and rest which is the only way you can get healthy again, and loose that sucky pre-cold lethargy.
I hope you can understand my metaphor, at least a little, but after having my little cry and getting it all out, I already feel like things are getting better. Hopefully the rest of my exchange will go according to the masters predictions; which consist of a gradual growth as you become fluent in your country's language and make closer friends with the people you've met. Until the next drop, which ironically occurs when your back home, but now you want to be back on exchange.
Wow we exchange students are never satisfied.
