Are you going home or have you been away and come home? What is the first thing you did when you got home? Are you excited about going home or do you wish you were staying away longer? If you are home, do you intend to stay or leave again?
Hey Everyone!
The summary just about says it. I've been in Okinawa, Japan for 2 years and i'm finally getting back to the States. Home is in Wisconsin but i'm head to CA next. Can't lie i've been missing it and i'm ready to get back. I've seen and done a lot while over here and have been able to travel a lot as well. Just wanted to share my excitment with those of you out there.
Reply to this Hello Tyler 😊
What is the first thing you will do, when you get home?
Mel
Reply to this Mel,
I will take it all in. I'm heading to Wisconsin first where it has recently snowed and considering i haven't seen snow or really felt cold in 2 years that in itself will be a great feeling. I will also be going out to what i remember to be my favorite Mexican Restaurant called Los Banditos with my mother.
Reply to this I changed the title of your thread and moved it to the General Forum because I bet others have experiences to share. I hope you dont mind. 😊
I was living in Germany for 3 years before my first trip back to Ireland(where I come from). It was more fun than going to someplace that I find more exotic because I knew many of the fun things to do in Dublin already. It was 2 days just packed with all the things I love most doing in Dublin without enough time for any of them to become stale. Pure nostalgia added to the pleasure of it. And I had the weird feeling that I was a tourist in my own town becasue I looked a bit different after my time in Germany and ordinary things that people were doing and saying were fascinating for me. And I did not have to put up with the getting lost and not knowing my way around that tourists have. Now, I go back there more often because I can afford more flights than I used to be able to afford.
Reply to this thanks Mel,
I did not realize you were from Ireland. I'm actually planning a trip there next year sometime so when i actually get more things in stone i'll have to look to you for any advice and ideas. I understand what you're saying about being a tourist in your own town as i feel that is exactly how i'm going to be. I've been gone for 2 years and i've experienced so much and i feel that i myself have changed significantly. I can't imagine what the people in my life have done or not done in this time.
Reply to this Yeah, when you are going to Ireland put a thread with your questions in the Europe forum and point me towards it. 😊
Going home after some time can also have its traumas. There have been a few discussions about it on these forums. Things like friends not being so interested in the details of you great adventure and trouble with adjusting to everyday life at home.
Reply to this I have enjoyed my 2 months in India, but it will be nice to go home. I'm not sure what I will eat first but all I know is it will be good. I will probably have Mexican food though.
Reply to this Going home after being away for a long time (especially in radically different places) is quite an experience. For me the first order of business was getting picked up by my good friend and heading directly to our favorite restaurant. Then out with more friends...more favorite food the next day...friends/family...food...food...food!
I loved the food I ate around the world, but I really missed Mexican food and Chicago style pizza.
Reply to this Mexican food is definitely one of the first things I do when I get home. And I dig into my shoes. Sounds funny, but I miss the shoes (and some of the other clothes) that I don´t bring on my trips. I must change three or four times a day when I get home.
Also, I normally come home around a holiday and make a point to meet up with as many friends and family at that time. Next trip home is just before St. Patty´s in Chicago...
Reply to this Home is where family and friends are...and that can be anywhere in the world. I'm born and grew up in Europe, but have lived in Asia for 13 years. Currently home is Shanghai, but that will change in 2009! Home is where love is!
Reply to this PA i hear what you're saying b/c now my closest friends are here in Okinawa and when i get home i will have those old friends and even family to come home to BUT i will still feel like an outsider and a visitor.
Reply to this I just went "home" to the US after nearly 2 years in Germany. We've been living in Germany for 3 years now, and while I most certainly do not feel German (I don't speak enough of the language to feel that way, for sure), I didn't really feel "home" until I got back here. The United States is where I grew up, but my kids were born here, I have a lot of friends here, my apartment is here... It was so much fun to go to Target and American grocery stores and to be able to understand everything (I chatted up everyone around, just because I could). But I felt like a complete outsider. I was there for 4 weeks, and it was just weird. If I had stayed there long enough, or moved there "permanently", perhaps I would be able to mentally get back into the States, but I guess I didn't. I felt foreign in my own country. Not a good feeling.
Reply to this Hi Rex and Tyler,
You just prove a simple point...time and friends...help us settle in a new environment. Somme place are easier to integrate than other...in Asia, I will always be a foreigner...what ever I do, because I'm not Asian. If you move to South America, let say Argentina, in less than 5 years, you can feel being a local...
To get to this point, you need to have spend more than 2 years in a place, you need somewhere to belong to it....to have what I call your live there...and than we do experience what Rex did, it's great to go back where we grow up, have our past...but this is our past...home is where love and family are...if you are lucky enough to have both of them...
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Peter
Reply to this I felt foreign in my own country.
I have that feeling too, when I visit Ireland. I now even look and dress differently from the women there. And I am not German either, for the same reasons you dont feel German. I dont speak the language well enough and dont do everything that Germans do.
Every year we celebrate some Irish, German and Dutch holidays and customs. Our daugher speaks 3 languages fluently. We dont really have a place that is home anymore. We are international.
Reply to this What and
where is
home ? We all probably have different definition of what constitute a home.
For me, it is a place where I feel safe, at peace, happy and content.
It's a place I miss when I'm away.
A place I want to go home to when things get tough.
A place where I can relax - put my feet up, let my hair down and just be myself.
A place where I can just laze around, do nothing and still feel happy and content.
A place where my love ones are.
I've come to my own revelation that finding a place one can truly call home is a journey in itself.....
There really is no place like HOME.
Cheers ! 😊
P.S damn...I sound like a Hallmark card !
Reply to this Well Jos...
I agree with what you have to say but i can tell you this much...
I'm now 24 hours away from leaving Japan and heading back to the states and i already feel that i am leaving what i have come to call "home"
You are right in that it is different depending on who you are because for me I'm leaving my "home" here b/c of the people here. They are friends who have become family and i head to a place where my friends have become strangers. So i suppose for me it is not so much a place or a building but it is the people that surround me.
Also, i really do want to thank so many of you for responding to this post b/c i have discussed this topic with friends here and told them about your point of views after so many of you related to the comments. A conclusion has been reached that like me they all feel as though "home" or what was home once is now a place that we feel like strangers and visitors.
Reply to this This is a very funny topic. We met many people on our travels who talked about what it would be like when you go home. It is often said that most people are talking about things relevent to them, like the price of petrol, the weather, or the credit crunch... It was like this for us.
I guess you have to remember that while you have been away, experiencing cultures etc, you may have changed. The people at home however are very unlikely to have. It is great to talk about your journey and experiences, though, unless it is with someone who has travelled before, people can't really relate to what you are saying. I never really like to dominate conversation with "and then we did this, and then we did this". I guess that's part of what was great about travelling as a two.
With the exception of seeing family and friends, I was really looking forward to a good pint of Guiness, I always miss this when I'm away. Also sausages and champ, excellent. And soda bread..YUM
I guess we thought travelling would quench out thirst, but it actually wet our appetites and so we plan to do alot more.
Reply to this I was really looking forward to a good pint of Guiness, I always miss this when I'm away. Also sausages and champ, excellent. And soda bread..YUM
And Salt and Vinegar flavoured crisps?
Reply to this well you can get pretty good walkers/lay's ones around the world, but we really missed TAYTO CHEESE & ONION - a northern irish institution!!!!!!! 😊
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