Dealing with home sickness...

[CBR 0]

I'm the USC, but am finding this thread very helpful. My fiance will be moving here soon and I don't think he's thought much about how homesick he'll be. He doesn't seem to have the same attachments to tv, stores, restaurants, foods etc that lots of you guys do, so I'm curious to see if he develops them. Right now I don't hear anything about that, but if he starts complaining about no ketchup chips, no Timmies, no poutine etc...I'll know...he's homesick.

I feel for you guys, I really do. I've put alot of thought into how I'd feel moving to Canada and being that far from family would be very hard. Some day we may do just that, who knows.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

The only way you can deal with home sickness is going home (IMO)

this past trip really helped me with the guilt of leaving my parents behind and starting to see the US as my new home now..

I'm with Liz on this ..........I am 6½ months in and I have a bout of homesickness every so often. I've been back once for a week in March. At the moment I'm short on vacation time at the new job so the prospect of my next visit home is far off (which makes me teary). Pplane ticket prices are sky-high so even a quick jaunt is out of the question.

It's been a complicated time.... my teenage daughter has NOT adjusted as i thought she would...a very slow process. Her school year has been a write off (those of you who know me have seen the teen angst mentioned in other posts )

All I can say is that it will happen...might be a little wave, might be a huge wave of homesickness, but just let it happen. The emotions are real, it's hard to figure out why they come up when you drank coffee 15 million times at Starbucks and then you want to cry because it doesn't taste like Tim's on 15 million +1 . I find I just get generally pi$$y about life and it takes a ½ day to realize there isn't much I can change that day about the USA except my reaction. lots of great stuff, just bugs you sometimes that it's not the same.

I miss my family terribly and that's the worst part. Getting my niece's birthday parcel ready this weekend made me cry for no good reason.

take care

[Krikit 1,164]

All I can say is that it will happen...might be a little wave, might be a huge wave of homesickness, but just let it happen. The emotions are real, it's hard to figure out why they come up when you drank coffee 15 million times at Starbucks and then you want to cry because it doesn't taste like Tim's on 15 million +1 . I find I just get generally pi$$y about life and it takes a ½ day to realize there isn't much I can change that day about the USA except my reaction. lots of great stuff, just bugs you sometimes that it's not the same.

I miss my family terribly and that's the worst part. Getting my niece's birthday parcel ready this weekend made me cry for no good reason.

take care

Heh heh. I totally had this happen to me on Friday. Been drinking the Starbucks brand of coffee since I got here and I've been fine with it. But on Friday I had a sadness pang because it didn't taste like Tim Hortons. It's a hormonal thing. lol

Udella, I can honestly say that these episodes will taper off and become less intense for you. I find that dealing with homesickness is a lot like dealing with death. Eventually the unhappiness is replaced by good memories so that you can go on with your life (in a happy and productive way) and not be crippled by depression. Hang in there.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I just keep drinking my Molson Canadian beer and purchasing bigger pants!

[Krikit 1,164]

I just keep drinking my Molson Canadian beer and purchasing bigger pants!

[thetreble 19]

I've been living in the US now for a year and a half. It's amazing to hear myself say that out loud because time has gone by so fast. I came to this forum today because I was feeling homesick!! haha So finding a thread like this is perfect for the occasion.

I've come to realize that Canada is a very special place, and Canadians are a very special people. My biggest heartache is the way Ontario looks! I miss brick houses and small rivers everywhere. I miss what I used to see visually every day. MandE, I, too, am from Kitchener-Waterloo so I understand how you are feeling completely. I miss downtown Waterloo a lot. Living in the suburbs here in the US, and with the nature of "towns", there is no city for me to walk in and around that is close by (except New York City but..you get what I'm saying). As a writer, there isn't much to see which I feel is detrimental to how I write.

Nevertheless, I agree with what some have said here in this thread...you go through spells. Some days you will be perfectly fine, and others, like today for me, I can sit for hours and look at old pictures of Ottawa, where I lived before I moved here, and despise myself for leaving that beautiful place. Removing yourself from your culture and your family is probably one of the hardest things any one can choose to do. But, we get new additions to our families, and we call our mums and dads as much as possible, and we find a way to move on.

Moving on with my life has been very hard for me, I won't lie. One thing that has helped is that working full time has often distracted me from thinking about home all day. Before I was legal to work, I used to sit home all day and pray to hear Don Cherry's voice again or to just sit down at my local tim hortons!!!! As stupid as it may sound, it's not stupid at all. It is natural to miss everything, and as carla said, just CRY. I cried all the time, I still cry now. I usually cry by myself but I do let my husband know how it affects me. As Canadians, we are so in touch with our landscape, something I don't find with people here in the US on the same level. We breathe and live our country and really understand where we come from. It's not pride; it is much deeper than that.

All I can say is take a breath, remember why you did what you did, and know it's going to be ok

Edited June 2, 2008 by thetreble