Home away from Homesick

Hello all! I hope everyone doesn’t mind that my posts are going to be less frequent now, simply due to the fact that I am no longer traveling. In fact, I’m working again, which leaves me stranded in one place for the time being. However, I still hope to bring you weekly tips and musings on travel and life after spending three months living in Europe.

Now one thing I was told to expect after arriving home to America was reverse culture shock. This is sort of like culture shock, but in reverse; you find yourself shocked by things being different from the place you just visited.

I’m not here to tell you that reverse culture shock is a myth. But I will say that I am very skeptical of its existence, mainly because I barely experienced it at all. The biggest thing for me was I kept forgetting that my phone would actually work when I left the house. Other than that, I found that it’s easy to come home because honestly, this is what I’m used to having in my life.

What I have been experiencing is homesickness, or perhaps more correctly, home away from home sickness. Before we left, the castle administration told us that the castle would always be our home away from home. And the truth is, I’m missing it like crazy. One thing I will say is that it’s a large adjustment to go from country hopping in Europe to living back at home and working a retail job part time. (Not that I don’t love it, but come on, what compares to Europe?)

So I’ve been trying to find remedies to nurse my overwhelming urge to collect my friends and hop on a plane right back to the good, old Netherlands. Here are a few that have been easing my withdrawal pain.

• Watching movies filmed in Europe (or anywhere else that you’re missing). Last night I popped on Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette while doing some internship work. It’s the only movie they’ve ever allowed to be filmed in Versailles and seeing it brought back all the good memories I had of touring there with my friends. It allowed me to take a little vacation, if only in my mind.
• Indulging in some native cuisine. Namely, in my case, stroopwaffel. I started carrying around a pack in my purse for a snack during my breaks at work. It always brings me back to mornings in the tower where I’d have it every day for breakfast (even if its status as a breakfast food is questionable).
• Talking about your experience. I recently volunteered to go back to my old middle school to talk about my experiences studying abroad. It gave me a chance to spread my enthusiasm for the experience, while teaching kids a bit about Europe. It was nice being able to relive my experience, even if I was probably more excited about it than the kids!
•  Visiting your travel companions. I’m meeting up with a friend who lives nearby on Thursday and hoping to plan a trip to New York City to visit some others later in the summer. It’s been hard not seeing them after spending three months together and I hope by meeting up, we can get a chance to relive our adventures while swapping stories about readjusting to life in America.
• Reading. Similar to watching a movie, reading a book that’s set in a place you’ve visited can be oddly comforting. I hope to start The Diary of Anne Frank soon as well, since I bought it while in Amsterdam. I’m actually glad now that I brought so many books while abroad, because each now holds a unique memory of the place where I bought it!

What are some things you do to relieve the post-travel blues?