At this point in my adult life, I don’t live with my parents. I haven’t spent more than a month and a half consecutively at their house since before college. So I expected to miss them when I went abroad. In fact, I expected to miss them a little more than usual based on the physical distance between us, but not by much. What I didn’t realize is that what makes me miss my parents is not the physical distance — it’s the constant lack of familiarity in my current surroundings.
What I Wish I Knew: Studying abroad is very different from going away to college. It’s a totally different level of being ‘away from home.’
At this point my life at Tufts is consistent, and after three years, I feel at home in the Campus Center or taking the T from Davis. In London, however, everything is new, and sometimes I just crave the familiarity and comfort of having a nice dinner with my parents.
This feeling has not let up the longer I have been here. In fact, it has only grown. It doesn’t matter how much I love London or how settled I feel in my current day-to-day life. As time goes on, I find that I miss my family even more. It isn’t homesickness, per se — I truly don’t want to go home any time soon (sorry, Mom!). It’s more that with every incredible, unfathomably amazing day I spend here, I genuinely still find particular moments where I wish I could just take a minute and relax with my family.
All of this is on my mind because my mom is coming to visit next week (yay!) and the closer I get to her arrival, the more I’m literally bouncing off the walls, ready to show her every little thing I love about London. She booked this visit before I left to go abroad, and I sort of thought I’d feel just as excited as I do when she comes to visit Tufts, but this is a whole other level of enthusiasm. I have been thinking about her visit since literally last month.
And boy, will I be milking her for all she is worth. I can’t wait to show her all the best London sights, including a place to get my hair cut, a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try that I can’t afford and a trip to the pharmacy to refill every single one of my toiletries. It’s going to be absolutely riveting for her. Truly the best tour of London one could possibly get.
All kidding aside, part of me does feel a bit silly to be thisexcited to see my mom three years after moving out of her house. But moms are meant to be missed, especially when you’re 3,500 miles away, and I will never be too old to miss my parents — or to wait for them to fly across the world to pay for my shampoo refill.
