I am currently an international student studying Commerce at UBC. Choosing to do this, however, meant leaving my family and home where I lived for the past 18 years. At first, it was thrilling, exciting and adventurous. Now, I find myself on a rollercoaster of emotions after my parents and brother visited Vancouver; I am feeling sadness and happiness curled up together. The past week, I wondered why I felt this way out of nowhere and I think I found the reason: a phenomenon called nostalgia.
Many times we associate the word nostalgia with us being younger and just having fun, but I think that there is more to it than this. Nostalgia is not just about reminiscing specific moments – it’s also about the emotions we felt at the time. Yes, I miss watching High School Musical or playing Just Dance. I miss going to Blockbuster to get my favourite Disney movies. I miss the food from back home (shout out to Frijoles Natura) and sleeping in my room with my own private bathroom. In reality, I just miss the way I felt when I had all those things.
Emotions are difficult to control. People (even the ones that care) say: “time will heal you”, “just take a deep breath” or “everything will turn out fine.” But at the end of the day, I wonder how much time I should wait for these feelings to vanish away? I then came to my second realization: it is totally normal to feel sad sometimes. Sadness makes us appreciate the good in our lives more. Additionally, many of the great artistic pieces and poetry are inspired by melancholy and sad individuals looking for closure.
We often tend to associate smells, objects and words with events or people. Being an international student is not an easy task: we cook for ourselves; we do laundry; we are responsible for our academics, well-being and life; all while knowing we could easily get these things done back home. And even though we can be mature, we tend to need advice from older people that understand and know us. Many international students cannot afford a plane ticket for Christmas which is undeniably sad, but we chose this, right? We chose to be apart from our loved ones in exchange for a higher education. It is a difficult journey, but rewarding at the end of the day.
(College student’s cooking skills)
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