Homesick...

La_Gordy

I've been living abroad for the last 6 years and never before felt such homesickness. I'm in Singapore which is fairly pish and very sterile. What I wouldn't do for craic...

How do yis get over homesickness when where you're living is baws??

Fysh

Homesickness is never fun There are a few things you can do generally to try and deal with it, with varying levels of difficulty:

• Find somewhere that'll sell you comfort food that you miss from home (whether that's getting a load of Tayto sent by mail order or finding the one shop in Singapore that sells Cidona/Club Orange/whatever).
• Dig out/buy DVDs of shows/films that you miss from home. Time was the RTE Player was the business for this, but they've locked most of it down. You can still get bits and pieces on it, but it might be worth buying DVDs of The Panel or Podge & Rodge or whatever you might miss from home.
• Find out if there's any group or club for Irish ex-pats in your area. You might be unlucky and find they're all prats, but it's worth a try. If there isn't one, try and organise a meet-up of some sort yourself - use boards, Twitter, meetup.com and whatever else you can find to reach out to people.
• If your finances allow it, book yourself a trip home. Even if you're not going to be travelling for a few months, having a trip home to look forward to will help, and gives you a chance to re-connect with friends and family to make sure you can catch up when you're home.
• Phone/email/videocall friends and family. Even though they're miles away, there's nothing like talking to them to make you feel better.
• If you haven't already done so, take up a hobby - ideally something that involves either meeting new people or at least moderate exercise (eg joining a book/film club, taking up cycling/jogging/climbing). The idea is to get yourself out meeting new people with shared interests (to combat the loneliness that can go with homesickness) and/or to harness the serotonin release that comes with exercise.

When did you last get a chance to go home?

Qualitymark

You might give the embassy a call - you'll find their number and information here -

http://www.irishembassy.nl/home/index.aspx?id=30236

They'll have some regular parties and events for expatriates, and will also be good contacts for work that might bring you home, if you're really too homesick. They're also the motherlode of Irish organisations that may serve your hunger for craic agus caint áitiúil.

stone roses

Come home if you can and have a job!! , im not messing , my wife and i lived in oz for years and we just had to come home , i got a great job in ireland and never looked back , we are very happy in ireland and we cant see ourselfs ever leaving again , i understand your pain , once i stayed in bed all day xmas day when i lived in oz , no famliy or friends just killed it for us! i hope you get over it

cheers

keithclancy

Fysh wrote: »

Homesickness is never fun There are a few things you can do generally to try and deal with it, with varying levels of difficulty:

• Find somewhere that'll sell you comfort food that you miss from home (whether that's getting a load of Tayto sent by mail order or finding the one shop in Singapore that sells Cidona/Club Orange/whatever).
• Dig out/buy DVDs of shows/films that you miss from home. Time was the RTE Player was the business for this, but they've locked most of it down. You can still get bits and pieces on it, but it might be worth buying DVDs of The Panel or Podge & Rodge or whatever you might miss from home.
• Find out if there's any group or club for Irish ex-pats in your area. You might be unlucky and find they're all prats, but it's worth a try. If there isn't one, try and organise a meet-up of some sort yourself - use boards, Twitter, meetup.com and whatever else you can find to reach out to people.
• If your finances allow it, book yourself a trip home. Even if you're not going to be travelling for a few months, having a trip home to look forward to will help, and gives you a chance to re-connect with friends and family to make sure you can catch up when you're home.
• Phone/email/videocall friends and family. Even though they're miles away, there's nothing like talking to them to make you feel better.
• If you haven't already done so, take up a hobby - ideally something that involves either meeting new people or at least moderate exercise (eg joining a book/film club, taking up cycling/jogging/climbing). The idea is to get yourself out meeting new people with shared interests (to combat the loneliness that can go with homesickness) and/or to harness the serotonin release that comes with exercise.

When did you last get a chance to go home?

^^ All of that stuff is what makes you homesick in the first place.

Best thing you can do to avoid homesickness is to completely immerse yourself in the local culture, get involved with clubs, organise a party and invite your neighbours.

Lots of stuff.

Been away for 5 years now and was only homesick when trying to clutch onto Irish things, meeting expats and looking for barrys teabags and taytos.

Ideally you want to make where you are 'home' and Ireland as 'away'

I'm at a stage now, where if I go to visit Ireland, I can't wait to get back home.

Although Singapore is meant to be rubbish.

Fysh

keithclancy wrote: »

^^ All of that stuff is what makes you homesick in the first place.

Best thing you can do to avoid homesickness is to completely immerse yourself in the local culture, get involved with clubs, organise a party and invite your neighbours.

Lots of stuff.

Been away for 5 years now and was only homesick when trying to clutch onto Irish things, meeting expats and looking for barrys teabags and taytos.

Ideally you want to make where you are 'home' and Ireland as 'away'

I'm at a stage now, where if I go to visit Ireland, I can't wait to get back home.

Although Singapore is meant to be rubbish.

I don't mean to be rude, but attempting to enforce that kind of rule for every person in the world is a bit silly. If someone's already homesick, telling them not to think about home isn't really going to help - if they could do that, they wouldn't be homesick!

The culture clash between the place you're in and the place you came from varies depending on each person, as do their circumstances and the relative desire they might have for moving home. I chose to move to London of my own free will, and I'm really glad of it - I love living here. I've known several folks who moved here to find work, and who found it somewhere between "Ok" and "good" but still went straight back home when they got a job offer. It's not really possible to treat the two sets of circumstances as equivalent.

I do think that in general, trying to get more involved in your new community is a good way to feel more at home - but sometimes there's nothing like a pack of Tayto and a bottle of Club Orange. Where you can substitute anything that you're familiar with from your home country for "Tayto" and "club orange" (for example, every now and again I really miss some of the silly and in some cases downright terrible snack foods I would have had as a kid living in Spain...)

keithclancy

Fysh wrote: »

I don't mean to be rude, but attempting to enforce that kind of rule for every person in the world is a bit silly. If someone's already homesick, telling them not to think about home isn't really going to help - if they could do that, they wouldn't be homesick!

The culture clash between the place you're in and the place you came from varies depending on each person, as do their circumstances and the relative desire they might have for moving home. I chose to move to London of my own free will, and I'm really glad of it - I love living here. I've known several folks who moved here to find work, and who found it somewhere between "Ok" and "good" but still went straight back home when they got a job offer. It's not really possible to treat the two sets of circumstances as equivalent.

I do think that in general, trying to get more involved in your new community is a good way to feel more at home - but sometimes there's nothing like a pack of Tayto and a bottle of Club Orange. Where you can substitute anything that you're familiar with from your home country for "Tayto" and "club orange" (for example, every now and again I really miss some of the silly and in some cases downright terrible snack foods I would have had as a kid living in Spain...)

No offence taken,

Its just a personal experience watching Expats come and go over the years

Its not a rule and certainly not isolated to living 'abroad' the same can apply to living in Dublin and being from Cork

Qualitymark

Fysh is right - best way to end that dreadful homesickness that tears you apart is to plunge into the culture of the place you're living in. (As well as keeping in touch with home through embassy do's and so on.)

Maybe start going to local festivals, eating local food, taking some classes in local crafts? Total immersion!

keithclancy

Qualitymark wrote: »

Fysh is right - best way to end that dreadful homesickness that tears you apart is to plunge into the culture of the place you're living in. (As well as keeping in touch with home through embassy do's and so on.)

Maybe start going to local festivals, eating local food, taking some classes in local crafts? Total immersion!

Having only expat friends is a disaster waiting to happen though, they all leave within 2 years.

Matt_Trakker

What ya need to do is go to the rte website and listen to a full pat kenny show followed by joe duffy, that'll cure ya, make ya realise you were right to move in the first place. Always works for me when I'm feeling homesick.

keithclancy

Matt_Trakker wrote: »

What ya need to do is go to the rte website and listen to a full pat kenny show followed by joe duffy, that'll cure ya, make ya realise you were right to move in the first place. Always works for me when I'm feeling homesick.

Them: Ah jaysus joe .. day'd be doin nuthin for ya
Joe: Gad .. jaysus..

Agro Head

La_Gordy wrote: »

I've been living abroad for the last 6 years and never before felt such homesickness. I'm in Singapore which is fairly pish and very sterile. What I wouldn't do for craic...

How do yis get over homesickness when where you're living is baws??

Get yourself down to Orchard towers. That'll put a smile back on your face.

Agro Head

Agro Head wrote: »

Get yourself down to Orchard towers. That'll put a smile back on your face.

lol just found this thread again and read the first post without realizing I had replied to it last year. I was about to post word for word the exact same thing as above. Hope the OP followed my advice.