What its Like to Live 3,713 Miles Away from Home- How I Deal with Thoughts of Home

Going far away from home can sometimes be sad, or even a little scary. But going so far away from home can a little more so. At first, everything is new and exciting and before you leave you're counting down the days, hours and minutes until your plane takes off, and when you look in the mirror you practice saying "Yeah, I lived in Denmark for a semester". But of course you know there will be things you will miss. Parents, siblings, pets, friends, your sports team, your familiar school, and having the feeling that everything makes sense...
Me holding my first place with
my horse, Felix and my mom
standing with us
Me on my horse at a tristate
competition
Missing those things is OK! There is no avoiding it! For me, I take it as a bittersweet thing. Of course you will feel like you miss those moments, but you have to keep a positive attitude. Sometimes if it's just really cold outside in Denmark I'll imagine the thick and lushious blades of grass with the beating sun rays from above. I imagine to be at this certain stately horse show grounds I compete at during the summer. Envisioning the clouds of sand and being kicked up by horses who are warming up for competion, the navy blue competition jackets on every competitior, sunglasses, water bottles, and my riding teacher saying "Tell me where you're goin' " and having to repetitively list the jumps I'll go over. I think of my two closest friends from my team and us learning our jumping courses while already dripping with sweat from the heat and riding earlier in the day. I can almost feel the swarm of butterflies from the pre-competition nerves, feeling every punch from the fights they're causing inside in my stomach as I try to just breathe and mount my horse. Finally I'll remember the day when for the first time, I received a first place ribbon on my horse at a tri-state competition. You will have a certain hunger and craving for moments like those that really remind you of home. Those moments you won't realize you'll miss until they're taken away for even just a little while.
Going to jump at
tristate competition
Even though you will miss those things dearly, you have to take it as a happy reminder. You can't think of it as "Oh my god I miss home and that's all I can think about and I want to be back now" because thinking that way will give you a sad feeling from those thoughts. When I think about summer moments like this, I think "Oh that was so nice. I'm so glad I savoured those moments as I was living them". Having a positive attitude is key to not feeling sad about thinking about home.

It also helps to just think about how lucky and how extremely fortunate you are to be abroad. Living in the moment is a must while being away from home. While walking with my friends, or entering the classroom, I will just feel this rush of happiness and joy. I take that with the thought "I am so happy to be here. I am so glad I've met my wonderful friends. This is a life changing experience I will be remembering until I die, and I am living through it right now." Just taking a second to appreciate everything that everybody has done for me to help me experience the things I have had the opporotunity to do really just warms my heart. My family at home, my host family, my friends, my school, even everyone who has even just said "Welcome to Denmark" as a polite gesture, they're all important to me.

I think I'll end this post here, and as always- if anyone has anything they would like to hear about, they can contact me through my instagram! @mgjourneyabroad

Thank you so much for reading!
Location: Tølløse, Denmark

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