I decided to fly home for Christmas to see my family, eat good food, and flee from the cold weather of Illinois. It is hard to believe, but studying abroad has also drawbacks alongside with its numerous advantages, and anybody should be aware that it involves important sacrifices. I am not talking about "culture shock" but rather about being away from one's family.
Unless you worked hard for it - but let's be honest it's not the case of many, it is usually a heavy burden financially for your family to have you abroad. This depends on the wealth of family and on the expatriation, of course. Nevertheless, one thing stays equal for everyone whenever you are abroad: you are exposed to be dramatically powerless in the case something occurs to your family. Loneliness, health problems, discords, tightened finance are some examples. With your family, being abroad is like missing 5 episodes of Dallas in a row: when you come back, so much has changed that you don't understand anything.
I realized that I always took my decisions about expatration myself, not thinking that I could be a cog in the machine. Overconfident, probably selfish, I was looking up without knowing what was under my feet, and I let people down. Semesters abroad sometimes make you feel like you'r in holiday and everything is "fun" or a "new discovery". Bad habit when you finally have to face the real world.
