Depression after a year abroad?
I turned 18 when I was 23/24 and spent 10 months abroad in the USA. I've been back in Germany for 3 weeks now and I couldn't be feeling worse mentally. I think the only person who can understand me is someone who has gone through the same thing. It's as if I built a completely new life there and it just doesn't exist anymore from one day to the next. Let's put it this way: going back "home" was harder than leaving. Home doesn't feel like home anymore. I feel absolutely nothing but homesickness. It's as if I've erased my life in Germany. I miss my high school (even though I graduated there), my host family, my friends, myself, absolutely everything. I was able to be a big sister and will remain one forever even though we are a thousand kilometers apart, be prom queen, live my dream, be a cheerleader, make friends and then leave them in the end and soooo much more. I still dream in English, think in English and sometimes I suddenly speak English. The first week was really bad; I could hardly eat anything, and it's not getting any better. I fell into a deep hole, and every sentence brings a tear to my eyes. It just feels like a dream I've woken up from. I still keep in touch with my host family and friends via FaceTime/Snapchat every now and then, but the time difference makes everything more difficult, and it's just not the same. I feel like everyone else has it easier than me and they're just getting on with their lives. Plus, my host family already has a new exchange student, "cry." I'm just afraid of being forgotten.
Has any of the former exchange students been in a similar situation and can give me some tips on how I can make it easier to settle in here?
I think I'll forever mourn my year abroad, and part of me will always stay in Colorado. <3
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Hello; this can be quite evidence of depression. In principle, a person is a kind of habitation, that is, he must get used to the new environment again and again. I can recommend you to do things that have been fun before and then it should go again 🙂
Greetings
Some of you just grab it, you really let yourself this year. This is good and ultimately also the goal of the ATJ. No one will take you. This experience shapes you for your life. That's positive.
Now it is important to get used to the thoughts, the advantage of two homelands to enjoy and appreciate.
You can always get back to the USA. Make it like your peers there. Prepare for your studies. Take this seriously, keep the focus so that you can study a semester in the USA quite soon.
Strengthen your network and plan a future that includes the USA.
Man is a habit animal. In Germany, too, there is sunshine and many advantages that only have to be recognized and realized.