Leaving Home Mood

Whoever has stayed abroad for an extended period of time might have experienced the leaving home mood. You feel a little bit sad because you will have to leave your social environment and let your friends go their way without you. You know that upon returning home, you will feel disconnected because both your friends and you will have made different experiences. So during the last few days at home, you would like to meet as many friends as possible. But at the same time you feel anxious about the next couple of months and you might have developed the tendency of wanting to stay at home as much as possible and just do nothing.

Before I went to the US, I had a pretty bad leaving home mood. I was scared because I knew that communication wouldn't be easy in the beginning. Facing my own courage to stay abroad for that long surprised and scared me. I wasn't sure how well I would be able to fit in. To get started in the US was indeed not easy though as you all know, I had an absolutely great time in the US and I'm extremely happy that I have made the step.

Going to the California wasn't difficult at all because I stayed home in Switzerland only for a couple of weeks and have mentally never left the US. Additionally, I forced myself to stay busy because I exactly knew that otherwise, I would again encounter the same mood.

Going to Bhutan last spring was surprisingly not too difficult. I stayed home only for a couple of months after an extended period of time abroad and probably never settled in. Sure, I didn't know a lot about Bhutan but somehow I knew that I would manage whatever would be coming up. As an additional factor, I was pretty busy with my semester thesis until very short before I left and there wasn't a lot of time left to think about the upcoming adventure.

Right now, I'm in a pretty heavy leaving home mood. The pressure that has built up during the last couple of months has been removed and it feels like I have settled in with my brother in our new apartment. And at exactly this point, it is time to leave.
Sure, I'm looking forward to go to Bhutan. I'm excited about the challenges that we are facing and I'm sure that we will make good progress. But until I'm sitting in the airplane and cannot go back, I go through all possible states. Guys, I'm looking forward to get onto that airplane!