A few days ago I started my 23-hour journey, full of emotions, crappy food and five hours of sleep, to Melbourne, Australia. If you follow me on social media you're probably confused out of your mind right now, but long story short: I'm just getting around to posting my blogs for the semester. The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind of every emotion you can possibly imagine. I hopped off the plane (from 90 degree to 40 degree weather), arrived at La Trobe University, got to my room and was instantly consumed by a series of panic attacks. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I'm horrible at talking about and showing my emotions. However, everything is so overwhelming, I can't keep my emotions to myself: I just travelled for an entire day, flying halfway across the world to live alone in a foreign country for five months. It still feels so surreal, and I really do miss home already (despite what I tell my parents). If I'm going to be honest, this whole 'girl-with-no-emotions-turns-very-emotional' thing has been lasting for a few days (and I am quite over it); however, a lot of people are reaching out to me, asking me how I am and giving me advice. It has helped a great deal knowing that even though I'm all alone, I'm not. If there is one thing this past week has taught me, it's that your emotions and feelings are completely valid, and everyone handles big life-changing situations differently. A word of advice to everyone going abroad in the upcoming weeks, and the future in general: I think it is so important to power through the jet-lag and your emotions for the first few weeks abroad. You may feel inclined to lock yourself in your room, sleep all day, binge-watch Netflix and call home every chance you get, but in all honestly, that just digs you deeper into the homesick hole. Find a group of friends to explore with, I promise it's easier than it seems (every international student is in the same boat as you, and every national student loves making friends with internationals). Some days you may really have to dig deep and find the courage to leave your room, but you will be thanking yourself in the long-term. While I have been going through some rough moments, I have also taken advantage of pretty great opportunities to explore this past week. After the hustle and bustle of check-in (and then re-checking in because we checked in at the wrong place) died out, a group of us four Susquehanna students + a few new friends from the Netherlands and Australia set out each day thus far to explore both the surrounding town of Bundoora and the nearby city of Melbourne. My campus has a plethora of bus and tram stations to explore the city and the neighboring area, and I can already tell that this is going to come in handy the next few months. I'm still adapting to this whole living alone in a foreign country thing, and to be honest, I don't think I will ever fully get the hang of it, but I'm learning that it is ok. It's so hard to prepare yourself for an experience like this, and I only wish that I could have known what would come of this first week or so. It's so hard to tell how you are going to react to a completely new situation that you have never encountered before. But, in reality, I think the unknown is the beauty of it all. Will I like living in this city/country? Will the homesick feeling go away? What will become of me in the next five months? These questions frighten yet intrigue me in every way. Stick around to travel alongside me while I learn to answer these questions openly and genuinely. xoxo, Samantha
0 Comments
|
AuthorHi, I'm Sam. Welcome to my blog! Archives
September 2018
Categories |