I think that I will forever remember the quiet journey I made from my dorm room to the tube station that would take me to Heathrow Airport. Our planes departing London at the same time, my roommate, a friend, and I woke up that morning before the sun has risen. In a haze, we got dressed and, looking around our bare room, zipped up our suitcases, making sure not to leave anything behind. In the halls of our building we whispered, stepping out into the morning air just as the sun was making its way onto the horizon. The air was still, chilly, and quiet. The only thing that broke the silence of the early morning was the wheals of our suitcases bumping along the sidewalk and our hushed voices, not quite sure how it was real that we were leaving. On the tube, we clumsily made our way to the end of the cart, standing the whole ride with our luggage, not entirely sure what to say to one another. My roommate was the first to leave, getting off one stop before my friend and I. We both hugged her and said our goodbyes, watching her zoom into the distance as the train pulled away from her. It felt so wrong to be leaving without her because for four months straight, we had seen each other everyday and traveled almost everywhere together. Knowing that this was the last time in a long time that I would be seeing her made me want to just turn around and go back. When my friend I got to the airport, it seemed like all the muffled silence from the journey there was suddenly thrown into full volume and chaos. We were giddy as we walked through security and located our plane. It was finally time to go home whether we wanted to or not.
During your time abroad, as I have discussed, you are bound to get homesick, most likely around Thanksgiving and probably a week or two before you return home. You will find that as the semester winds down, some people will be dying to go home while others are dreading it. Most likely, you will experience a mixture of both which is both confusing and emotional. On the one hand, you will have to say goodbye to all of the friends that you made, the city that you love, and the routine you have created, all of which is heartbreaking. On the other hand, you will be able to see your family again, your pets, your home, and your friends back home. By the end of my semester in London, I found myself missing my home and the people back there, but also not really wanting to say goodbye to London and the people that had turned into my family there. When I did finally reach home the next day, I was happy to see my family and be home, but the happiness did not last long. As much as I love my family and where I am from, the expectations that I had had for my homecoming fell extremely short and I felt like it was wrong for me to be back. This is something that I feel like no one talks about when returning from a semester abroad. Sometimes you build your home and your family up to be something they are not simply because it has been so long since you've been home. But when you get back and walk through the front door, the reality can hit quite hard. People talk about how it is sad to leave the city that they have grown to love, but they rarely talk about it being a depressing sort of sadness. It is good to keep in mind that this can be case although it certainly is not for everyone. When you return home, you need to learn how to live in that climate, with those people, in that new routine, and that can be extremely difficult.
Returning home after your time abroad will be a mix of emotions. It will be confusing and you may be happy one moment and very sad the next. All of those feelings are justified and should be expected. Today, a few months after my time in London, I think back to it with nothing but the fullest of hearts. I loved every second of it and would go back and relive it a hundred times over. Even though I think of London with fondness, I miss it terribly. You'll find that the smallest of things— a song, a word, the weather— will remind you of your second home and you'll be transported back there. My time abroad meant more to me than anything else I have ever done, and, if anything, it has made me vow to return. My hope for the future is to be able to return to the UK for post-graduate school where I can once again live in my favorite place on earth.