Missing Germany while visiting home

Living in Germany

I have been living in Germany for the last year and a half. I’ve visited home several times, and I never felt like missing Germany while I was on vacation. 

Yes, my life in Germany was fine, just studying, meeting my friends once in a while and not doing much. So living in Germany and coming to my island meant, most of the time, vacations and getting away from responsibilities, so of course I didn’t miss Germany that much. Besides that, I sometimes felt like my life in Germany was temporary and I wasn’t making an effort to connect with the country.

Since I came to Germany, I wanted to really make a life in the country, but sometimes it was difficult to connect, and the weather didn’t help, either. But I also felt so connected to my home country, which I know is normal, but wasn’t helping either. 

But I had to keep in mind that I chose this path, I chose Germany to live in, and it’s actually a good country to emigrate to. So what was my problem? 

But that was before

My life in Germany changed, I don’t have more classes, I finished my internship, and my thesis only starts in May, so I had lots of time to really connect with the country, and I start feeling like I really belonged, and that’s hard to let go of. Of course, I really missed my family, and I wanted to visit them and my island, but the feeling I left behind in Germany is hard to overcome. I was learning German (still trying to learn from home), I was getting to know the cities more, and I was enjoying all of my time there with my friends. 

And I understand now that it was the little, basic things that changed it for me. I can give you an example, and it might seem stupid, but I did not have a German number until January. My Portuguese number always worked because of roaming, until it didn’t. And I understood that it was time to get a German number, and let me tell you, it really helped to give me that sense of belonging, because now I can call anyone in the country and they won’t think it’s weird that a number from another country is calling. 

Everything falls into place

I’ve said this before in the post „„, but I will say it again. Everything will be alright. It might be really hard in the beginning, and you might doubt your choices to move to Germany, but in the end, you will notice that there are many things in Germany to enjoy and to make your time there more fun and easy. 

So don’t worry, try to look for ways to connect with the country, even if it means leaving your original number and getting a German number. Before you notice, you’ll be homesick from Germany while visiting home.