Lonely and missing mum

This school is teeming with international students. Thats just a fact. And a lot of these students left their homes and families and such to get a decent education or oppurtunities they felt they could not get elsewhere. Or because their parents made them, whatever.

So a lot of these students are alone here. This is a huge place to be alone kids. It can swallow you up if you’re not careful. I know even American students who left their homes in Oklahoma or even Houston feel that sting sometimes too, but I think for international students it feels a bit different. Not only are mummy and daddy far away, but so is your native tongue and your friends and your old hang outs. You’re having to get used to this culture and the way things are done here. And it is not the hardest transition in the world I don’t think, but there are moments when nostalgia hits and all you want to do is go home and cuddle up to mummy.

I have been here for four years now and though I periodically go home for a couple of weeks (Christmas mainly) I miss home a lot. And my home right now is in Iran because that is where my family lives.

I’m an adult. I realize this. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I know that part of being an adult is living on your own and being grown up about things like homesickness. But all the words and pep talks in the world will not stop me feeling lonely here. I see so many international students who are fine during the week because they have classes and work to worry about. But come Saturday and Sunday, I see them sitting in the library or in Ransom Hall and it is not always because they just love studying or have an impending test, but it is because they are a little lonely and need to do something around other people.

Perhaps this is not a casualty of being a foreigner and everybody has those moments. But I can not just hop on a bus and go see my parents and be around the familiar. Hopping on a plane requires loads of time and loads of dosh ($$). And if your particular ethnic group is not sufficiently represented here (e.g. Zimbabwean students are not severely common around these parts. Dallas yes, but not so much here) you can’t help but feel a little disconnected sometimes.

So here I am light years from home (slight exaggeration) and conforming to American life and sometimes I just want to speak my own language and talk to my mum face to face. International students get lonely a lot. Case and point. Try and befriend us, we’re really rather pleasant (some of us that is. Lets don’t get carried away with sloppy generalizations). You would be amazed how much having friends makes the homesickness ebb.

So adopt an international, Lol. It is a worthy cause I think.