Living Away
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Why is it that you want to leave so desperately when you first get back to the states, but for some reason it fades, kind of like the memories do. Living abroad is my favorite thing to do, but why do I keep coming back? Why can't I make it permanent? I don't know, but thank god Im going to Costa Rica in 2 weeks! |
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Hi Katie -
I feel the same, having returned to the US now many times after living in England or Ireland. Sometimes it takes me three months to readjust to life in the states, and sometimes more like six.
I returned in September from only two months in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and I still miss the people, the weather, the fresh air, my friends, the pubs I go to, their brilliant theater -- everything. Even their strange and wayward politics.
I agree that it's a puzzle as to why we don't stay Out There instead of coming home all the time. But then Home must be a powerful force for everyone.
I have found that if you continually live in locales that are highly occidentalized it really is not that different from living at home. Watch Pulp Fiction for that, "They have the same shit over there as they have here...".
Try a place outside your realm of acceptability. I lived in Moscow for a good time. It changed my life. I also lived in Jakarta, again, changed my life. Only by truly stepping out of your comfort zone will you find a place to really go abroad. Costa Rica is not really abroad, in my opinion. Mongolia, Djibouti, Oman, Senegal, Bolivia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Moldova, etc. are places to really experience something different, and life enhancing.
I suggest you get an atlas, go to the index, the first nation name you do not recognize, go there.
would if i could right now buddy! chill.
I've given what this guy said a little thought, and I came to the conclusion that he is a self-righteous dick.
Just want to mention that not everybody shares the same comfort zone. Leaving ones inner-city neighborhood and camping in the woods for a weekend could be as "abroad" as some people will ever get. Yet that person may have stepped farther outside their comfort zone in that weekend than a seasoned traveler who ventures to Ulan Bator, Mongolia for 3 months. As comfy as Costa Rica is for some, for others it’s very much outside the realm of acceptability. Stepping outside of your comfort zone has less to do with the locale and more to do with how you approach life (home and "abroad").
You're right. And I don't think of life in terms of comfort zones, and as you pointed out, it is all a matter of perspective. I happen to think of life in terms of what will be fun and what won't be fun, what I will gain insight and perspective from is all part of the package - a great friend who I never get to see was going to Costa Rica, so I decided to spend some time there with him. I guess I could have chose something more "challenging" and out of my comfort zone, but I really don't approach things that way. Hopefully I will go to all of those remote, amazing places at some time in my life, but right now I can't afford a plane ticket to fucking Madagascar - as much as I am dying to see it.