Globe Trotting and Thoughts on Homesickness...

Well, tonight I travel from ancient Israel to ancient Italia! I absolutely cannot wait to arrive to Italy, where my only previous experience was 9 hours in a 5 star hotel in Milan, paid for by the airline that caused us a long delay. I am arriving in Rome tomorrow morning around 8:30 (it is only a 4 hour flight from Israel... less time than it takes to fly across the continental US!) I expect to take in a lot of new sights, dust off some of my Italian, and gain roughly 73 lbs. :) I will be meeting my sister Stephanie who studied abroad near Venice last year and now works for the school she studied at! She is there working and is making the trek to Rome to meet me! I haven't seen her since I left for Israel 2 1/2 months ago. That is the longest we've ever been apart in our entire lives, but a lot shorter than I thought our time apart would be! I had expected not to see her until possibly the summer, so I am unbelievably happy to be seeing her and spending this time with her!

Some words from my experiences with homesickness...  to those that may be reading and considering moving abroad: Anyone else who has moved here to Israel, away from their families (or anywhere else for that matter) knows how lonely it can be without friends and family from home. It's true. Despite all the new, amazing, exciting experiences and adventures there is always that longing for the familiar. I know that after only 2 1/2 months, I am craving to be near those who are so close to me, but who are so far away. It has gotten easier as time has worn on, I won't say it hasn't. The shock of being away has dissipated. The longing for home isn't always at the forefront, but sometimes (usually when the language barrier makes otherwise easy things difficult, or I find myself mulling over memories) it becomes overwhelming. There is exhaustion and frustration caused by things that are so easily accomplished on home terrain; and, in these moments I find myself particularly vulnerable to homesickness. But, I find that now I always recover. I look to all of the wonderful things that I am experiencing here, and I become certain that coming here was no mistake.

In my time here so far, I have learned that you can't ever expect yourself to be fully comfortable being away from home and loved ones. There are always going to be days that you feel lost and far away even if you are generally happy and successful in your new home. I can never say to myself that I am finally fully settled... that I've crossed that line; because, there are always those days or moments that I am not so settled. There are days that I say "why did I come here?" And that is ok. That is natural. You can't conclude that you have made a bad decision by going abroad just because you have a few bad days. That's life... and you'd have bad days at home too. And, the next day when you are brimming with pride that you've had a successful interaction in your new language, navigated the highways for the first time by yourself, made a successful shopping trip without buying something you thought was hummus but reeeeeaaallly wasn't, or what have you... you will realize that you are grabbing onto a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That you are making memories and amassing experiences that you will hold with you for the rest of your life. At least, those are my conclusions so far.

The other night in my Hebrew class the teacher was interviewing people about their experiences in Israel so far. One of the questions she asked was if they wanted to return to their home country, or stay in Israel. There were some people that stated they never wanted to go back, that they are ready to stay. There were others that have made temporary moves here (like myself) who said they would return at some point. But no one said they were ready to give it up now.