Longing for Home

In response to Claire's question about anyone else feeling really homesick and the research me and Annie have done about homesickness, I have come round to the opinion that homesickness can strike at any time in any place. When going home some weekends I've experienced a feeling of homesickness for being back here and if I've felt ill or under pressure here I long for the stability and comfort of my home in Cardiff with my family.

The only time I've really experienced homesickness was at Easter when I booked a last minute holiday with a girl I've been friends with for years and that I know inside out. We were only going for a week and I think the problem was that I was going because I was having really intense problems with my friends at home and I felt that getting away would solve them. Surprise, surprise it didn't. I got used to it though and every day got easier, but it was so hard. I felt tearful and isolated and trapped in a place where I couldn't see my loved ones.

In july I went away for a month to India where I couldn't even ring home for the most part and I was fine. When trying to make sense of this I figured that this time I wasn't running away from anything. Here I never experience homesickness like I did at Easter, I think because I know that home isn't so far away and I really feel that a huge part of homesickness is the feeling
that you can't get home. It's nice to have the option even if you dont use it.

I rang my grandad, or tiad, as he is to me (grandad in Welsh) and he gave me the welsh translation of homesick. it is hireth am gartref and means 'longing for home'.

Philippa Thomas