Every Difficult Thing About Moving Back Home After a Year Abroad

Having to leave one group of friends behind wouldn't be so hard if your friends from home hadn't all gone and completely changed. You've missed out on a whole year of in-jokes and experiences, which means in every conversation you just have to stay quiet and hope you'll eventually get an opportunity to tell them about the time you went to a techno club while you were in Berlin. Speaking of which...

Which is annoying, because they're really good stories. You've spent the last year having completely new experiences and embracing a different culture, but you've got nobody to share it with. Sure, you can tell your parents some of your stories, and they'll listen, but you can't tell them everything. There's some stuff you just don't want them to know. Try and bring up any of your wilder year abroad stories with friends though and they'll either roll their eyes or just stop listening.

Living abroad meant embracing a completely new lifestyle and trying lots of new things. Maybe it was yoga or some other new-age form of exercise and meditation. Or perhaps you became an avid photographer, chronicling your new environment. Whatever it was, it's a lot less appealing now you're back home where everything is grey and dull. You can't even get convince your mum to make paella.

Personally, you would say your sense of style has merely evolved as a result of being exposed to a different culture. All your friends just think you look odd though.

Yes, you can understand they must have found it tough while you were away in a different country, but the way they go on about it you would think you'd spent the last year in a warzone. Wait until you tell them you plan to spend the next summer traveling, they'll be devastated.

Growing up, you didn't notice anything wrong about the place you're from. How could you? It was all you knew. However, now your eyes have been opened to another culture, it's a lot harder to not see the flaws. Everything about your country now seems weird or off-putting. You can't avoid it. From the way people drive their cars and interact with strangers, to the things people drink or watch on television, everything seems quaint, simple and utterly, utterly wrong.

Even if they're right, it's not helpful to have someone go ,"Aww, it must be so tough, missing all the friends you made on your year abroad. Do you reckon you'll actually ever see them again?"

And you never will.

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(Yoga image: Dave Rosenblum (Flickr) Sad pug image: Hannah K (Flickr))