Sorry guys, time for my post on homesickness.

When I left, I thought I would have more time to say goodbye to my mom. But then the line at security went a lot faster than either of us expected and soon I was sitting by myself at my departure gate. This was a familiar feeling. I often travel  by myself for dance competitions. I’d flown to Ireland twice by myself, but something was different this time – as it should have been! My mom is one of my closest friends and definitely my closest family member and she has been the person I miss the most while I am here. But thanks to the magic of Skype and other internet tools, I still get to talk to her almost everyday. I remember thinking, as I sat at the gate, that this was going to be the hardest year of my life. But I just wasn’t sure what I was about to experience.

Sometimes I do get little pangs of homesickness. Mostly for dance though. I call this (oh-so-cleverly) dancesickness. Dance was/is a huge part of my life. This is my first time in 5 years without my dance team. Seeing all the pictures of my friends competing and winning medals and trophies makes me wish I was still there experiencing all of that. I think this is the hardest for me – because I can’t skype dance. Sure, I can still dance here, and that’s great. But it won’t compare to the time spent in the studio with my dance family and my coach yelling (occasionally praising) us. This is what I miss most about home. I’m learning to get through it though, and it only hits me every once in a while. Especially now that regionals are over and so there will be less competitions. I don’t miss it any less now, but I have enough schoolwork to keep me busy and my wonderful friends who will always find something for us to do, whether it’s movie night or going swimming in the freezing cold lake! Or standing on the bank, observing… which I am REALLY good at 🙂

Dance team picture

In conclusion, I guess I’m saying that the homesickness I once assumed would be overwhelming is very, very manageable. In fact, I feel more at home in Sweden than I do in Monmouth. I’m sad that I will have to return to Monmouth and I already cannot wait to go back to Vaxjo. Even right now, while I am in Ireland I miss Sweden. I’ve only been gone 7 days. Oh boy. If I’ve learned anything though, it’s that I can get through it. And there’s always an option to get a masters degree here!

xxx Maren