Have you ever heard of the term “feeling homesick”? It means to miss home when you leave for a period of time. Usually happens when you leave home for the first time, for those of you that have stayed close to home most of your life. You miss everyone and just about everything about your life back home. It may leave you feeling a bit depressed and unsocial. I’ve experienced it when I went to Italy, my first time leaving home. It was great at first, but I realized I was calling home a lot more than I usually do when I am home. At times I would appreciate looking out at the Verrazano bridge from on top of the hill, exploring the Galileo museum and art museums, but then I would think of home and sigh. Thinking back to it, I went out most of the days I was there. I explored as much as I could and hung out with all of the people there. I believe that was the key for me to not feel as homesick as I could have been. Those days I decided to stay at home and “relax” probably made me a little more anxious and worried about home.

I went to Japan for the winter abroad program to learn about film in Japan last year, and I was going to go over there for the spring semester. The winter semester ended Jan 24, and my classes at Rikkyo were suppose to start in April – so I had some time to hang around the area. I decided to go over to Taiwan for the first time to visit family over there, for the first time. It was a stressful event, more than I had thought it would be. I was quite unsettled about meeting all these new faces, and it was great that I had warmed up to them at the end of my two months there…But I was SO homesick before I got to know them better. I was wondering why I had decided to stay in taiwan for so long. It was hot during the day, I hate heat, and too cold at night. They don’t have proper heating in most houses of Taiwan. It was moist, cause it was their rainy season. There were too many mosquitos flying around, SO ANNOYING! Most of the time because of the rain I would be staying indoors, and remember what I wrote about staying indoors? You miss home a lot more. There was a time when I thought I could go out and explore on my own, but my grandmother would get very worried. I told her I wanted to go around Taiwan, alone, but she told me that it would cause her a lot of anxiety. I sighed and held in my desire to roam the country. [I returned home to my mother’s laughter, she said I should have since I don’t know when I’d go back. So the idea was, see the opportunity? TAKE IT. ]

Anyways, as we all should know, the earthquake and tsunami was broadcasted throughout the world – and I was told I wasn’t allowed to go to Japan to study abroad. They said they would see what they could do, so I was to return to the United States…So I did…And returned to Japan the for the following fall semester [if you didn’t know this is how this blog began]. Throughout I didn’t feel too home sick, there were times when I missed friends and family of course…And I did miss NYC hot dogs, it doesn’t really exist in Japan. My friend misses bacon, he’s still searching for bacon that tastes like bacon…Good luck I say. The closest thing that looked and tasted closest to NYC hot dogs were the “New York” hot dogs being sold in Disney Sea. It was the closest, but NOT the real thing. Okay, let’s throw out that idea and get back on topic.

I felt homesick in Japan, of course on those days where I stayed home for way too long working on school work. But it was not too bad, the most greatest experience I’ve ever had. Then I had to come back home, and here I am. And now that I am home…Now that I am back to my “sanctuary”…I realize that I really miss Japan and everywhere else I’ve been. I keep wondering about when the next time I would be able to travel out so far. I’ve started making plans, and let’s pray those plans work..they should eventually. Thorough preparation makes its own luck, as the saying goes.

So to those few of you reading my blog every once in a blue moon. Where would you like to go, if you could? Do you make plans for the future like this? Have you ever felt homesick? Do you have any places you would like to recommend me to go visit, and why?