You really wanted a post about my feelings.
So, I’ve been feeling choking-you-from-the-inside-welling-up-faster-than-you-can-blink-it-back friend/homesickness, so I’ll be glad to have some of my peeps around for Easter. (Get it – peeps? Easter? Zombie Jesus?)
Almost every day, at some point, I think to myself, “Why am I not living in Chicago right now?”
“Because I didn’t want to wait to look for a job,” is the answer. But man, will I feel this socially detached in six months? It’s already been three. Why should I have to find new friends, when I already have lots of perfectly good friends just lying around? Am I really homesick? I’m trying to tell myself that I’m not – I’ve never been homesick – but there’s enough vague unhappiness that I can’t identify to not rule it out.
And being frustrated makes me sappier. Stupid non-agression. I guess it’s still better than drinking.
End soppy rant.
This is the exact reason that (while I am applying to jobs everywhere) I am secretly hoping to get that cataloging job at the Newberry in Chicago. A new place sounds sooo exciting but, in reality, I fear exactly what you are speaking of. MA isn’t necessarily forever, right?
My friend Hannah said that when she moved to Florida, she cried almost every day for the first year. And at some point after that, she was OK. And then she moved to Champaign and had to do it all over again. I don’t know at what point it gets easier. I guess I’ll find out in the next year or so.
But hey, if you were in Chicago, you might’ve run into a coyote at lunch:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_093180735.html
(caution, do NOT watch the video. it made me cry.)
So, you dont know me, but Im a friend of T3s and I often check your blog 😛 Ive been living in australia for almost 4 years and I still get twinges of homesickness, but I think that homesickness is good. Wouldnt it be aweful if we didnt care to see those people who made up such a part of our lives for such a long time? Making friends in a new place is tough, but it a great experience to leave who and what you know and discover yourself in a new place. Good luck, and dont beat yourself up about getting teary for familiarity, its normal!
i’m a prepackaged neighbor, just give me a few more years. you pick, i trust you.
You are not alone! We miss Chicago and our friends and families and the easy-good-times so intensely that it hurts. A lot. It’s been 6 months for us here in Michigan and we continue to try really hard to adjust, but the only thing that seems to help is the thought: “we will not be here forever.” I don’t know how long “not forever” will actually be, so in the meantime, we just focus on being good to each other and petting kitties… very therapeutic! 🙂
Hang in there. You’ll make it. I’ve lived in Chicago for more than five years, and I still find myself getting homesick right before the holidays or a visit home.
Um, yeah. It’s exhausting. And it’s hard being in a new place and basically being just as broke as you were in grad school.
We’ve stuck around Iowa, so we haven’t experienced much homesickness, but we’ve definitely experienced friendsickness, with people like you and Kimberly and Andrea all too far away. But we’re happy that you’re all making brave adventures of your lives and know that, at least for brief periods, you birdies will fly back home to flap around in the nest with us for awhile. You’re awesome, Sony/ja. 🙂
Ah, that was sweet of my friend Taylor to write on your comment page. Just caught up with your blog. Adventures are fun–enjoy your time in your new home–yes, home–and when the time is right, you’ll find yourself back in the midwest when you want to be. And on the flip side–I’m moving to NYC in January. Gonna be a starving actor/artist and if need be, sell my body on the street as I try to make it. Am I crazy? Maybe. But it’s awfully thrilling to think about!
On another note, remember when we got up early in the morning for about a week to go for a run and you thought I ran like a dinosaur? I will think of that when I run daily now…I think my form has gotten better…but I need you to be the judge of that.
Love ya, Sonja!