Homesick Traveler..

tazbars

Hey everyone! I'm really in a dilemma, i'm supposed to be going to america next semester (12th August-12th December) but I'm really having doubts. I have always been homesick on previous holidays and the thoughts of 5 months away from my friends and family is making me feel sick. The main factor i suppose is leaving my boyfriend. I want to make the most of college etc but I really dont know what is best for me. Everyone is telling me different things and I really need to decide fast. Any help would really be appreciated

Whitehawk

Go and travel, its great fun and you wont stay homesick for long! with email and skpye you will be able to talk to everyone! if you want to meet other irish when you over there go check out some hostels these will allways be full of nice backpackers and what nots and im sure u will even find the odd irish person!
U will meet lots of cool and new people and make some new friends!
A exp. like that is great for yourself and great for a CV! So just get out there and jump right in to it!

Lustrum

At least go, and if you don't like it come back, at least then you won't regret it.

I'm sure you'll regret it if you don't even give it a chance

tazbars

see the thing is I can't come back, if I did I'd fail the whole college year. Not seeing everyone for so long is really making me panic - I haven't slept the last four nights. I just don't feel ready to leave but I'm worried that if will be a life regret if i stay.

Whitehawk

It may seem like a big thing and it is but wonce you get in to the swing of it you wont look back! its the first step in anything like this that is hardest! maby go over with someone for like 2 weeks before you need to be there to settle in and get use to the area! ppl in the usa are nice and your irish so they will love you over there! 6months may seem like a long time now but in a year from now it will seem like a small trip!

Civilian_Target

Up to you - it could be a great trip but if you've already decided to be homesick, miss your boyfriend and be miserable, then you should stay home.

The reality is, you have the rest of your life to stay home - at some point you'll probably have kids and a mortgage and you may wish you'd seen a bit of the world.

syklops

tazbars wrote: »

see the thing is I can't come back, if I did I'd fail the whole college year. Not seeing everyone for so long is really making me panic - I haven't slept the last four nights. I just don't feel ready to leave but I'm worried that if will be a life regret if i stay.

I really doubt if you returned home for a week once or twice in the 6 months that you will fail the entire college year, unless your studying some kind of mental stamina course. If you return home for a week after 3 months, then you are not actually going for 6 months then, you are actually going for 2 sets of 3 months. Then if you get your parents to visit you for a few days after a few weeks, and get your boyfriend to visit you, you would be amazed how quickly six months goes.

Also, put it like this, if you go and really dont like it you can go home, and repeat the year if necessary. If you dont go, a few years from now you might regret not going. One of the worse things you can have is regrets.

munchkin_utd

it seems like the chance of a lifetime to go abroad and experience something different.

I did the J1 thing in the Us for 4 months and the time just flew.
Also spent a semester in Germany in Uni and again, time flew. Between the foreign society and other international students you are kept on the go the whole time. You arent the only person there who will know noone so theres always people organising trips away and the likes.
If you keep busy you wont have time to be homesick.

ALSO... you'd be surprised how easy it is to make friends, or at least good acquaintences. Everyone is in the same boat and away from friends and family and its not the same cliquey experience that you can have in Irish universities where people from the same home town gang together just like they did in secondary school. So I can almost promise you that you wont be lonely over there if its anything like I experienced (& heard from others on exchanges to usa/ canada) !!

Wisco

Definitely go. US colleges and universities always have LOTS of organizations (even the small ones) and there's always heaps going on so you'll have plenty of opportunities to make friends and keep busy so you don't miss home too much.
If you don't take a chance and do something like this now, you may look back and regret it later. When I was in university I did a semester in Spain, even though I was really into sports and it meant giving up a season (and I lived for my team and playing). I was afraid I was really going to miss out, but I am so glad I went- it gave me good experience related to my degree and it gave me confidence in myself too.
Go. It's only a semester. If you and your boyfriend can't handle being apart for that long, I'd say it's not something that will last anyway, especially since you'll be able to keep in touch via video skype, etc. You're so young, don't tie yourself down now- you have years ahead of you for that.

papajohn12

A lot of people can only dream to be in your place. It's an opportunity you shouldn't allow to pass. You're still young, experience as much as you can because you wouldn't want to regret about it later. You should think of these 5 months not as time away from home and friends but time to make new friends and acquaintances. If you're already thinking of getting homesick, then you'd really be homesick. There's always Skype if you miss home so much. They say that time flies fast when you're having fun. Just chill and enjoy and before you know it 5 months have come and gone.

Karamoja

With skype and mobile tellyphones you'll be grand. Tell your boyfriend to come visit you. Join a society, get involved.

Whitehawk

Id like to point out that at this stage really think its up to the OP all of us just saying go for it is not going to make that much of a diff. as was said above if you go with the mind set that you are going to be homesick you will be homesick! i think it boils down to that end of story!