Homesickness

[darcness 3]

I'm a US citizen and my fiancee is Canadian. She dearly misses Canada too. We are going through the process of getting married (the 26th of this month) and then filing all her paperwork after. She plans on staying here during the process and she has been here over 2 months already. So you all know we are looking at some serious time that she's "stuck" here, lol.

She got pretty inebriated on Halloween weekend and she was crying "I want to go back to Canada!" Talk about breaking my heart. She misses her family and friends there. I understand because I would miss them too. We've been through a lot together in the last 2 years, but nothing compared to some of you. I know we can do it though!

[HeatDeath 430]

The US feels absolutely huge, until you're stuck there waiting for your AP documents. It must be even worse being so close to the border, being able to look across the river/lake at the Promised Land but, like Moses, knowing you can't go in. As a Canadian you grow up being so used to being able to cross that border more or less at will - it's a very weird feeling when all of a sudden you can't.

When my AP documents showed up I triumphantly posted "<HeatDeath> is no longer being held prisoner by the US government! " on my Facebook wall. Funny thing is I haven't even been back to Canada since I moved here, but that feeling of homesickness/being trapped here went away when I got my AP documents.

Interestingly, I find that watching really Canadian things on youtube helped when I was going through a homesickness period. Things like the CBC sign-on videos/O Canada videos, National Film Board Vignettes, etc. Maybe the nostalgia for early 80's CBC is just me.

Also eating french fries with white vinegar. I do wish there was some place here that made poutine though.

My wife got me the complete series of Corner Gas last Christmas. It's kind of funny, realizing you are probably the only person in a 500 mile radius watching that show at that particular moment, but it really helps me feel a little more at home.

Edited November 16, 2011 by HeatDeath

[MSR 6]

lol I'll warn my fiance not to panic if he finds me one day, curled up in a ball sobbing to "O Canada"....

Don't make me post that video!! LOL.

[dukeandduchess 141]

Tub of ice cream and the entire collection of Canada's History Minutes.

[Sandra&Matt 1]

I hear ya!!! I've been homesick on and off since moving here. Helps to have NHL Centre Ice if you're a hockey fan

[HeatDeath 430]

I'm not normally a huge hockey fan, but I felt extra Canadian watching the Olympic Men's Hockey finals, and even the Stanley Cup finals last year.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

What I found helpful in dealing with my homesickness when I moved here was reading the newspapers back home on line. I found I could also watch CBC on the computer and get reruns of some of the shows I liked to watch. Somehow knowing I had that contact made it feel like I was less isolated. I still read the newspapers from my last home in Canada and my 'home town' and I watch the elections on CBC and things like that. I've been here over 7 years now, and Canada is still 'home of my heart' but my home is here, too. When I am in Canada, I miss here. Heck - I need to find a way to marry the two places together so I can have them both! Hehehe.

Don't worry - being homesick is totally natural. It will pass so it doesn't hurt so much but is more like a nostalgic memory of home. You will find that you have room enough in your life for two homes. Two very different homes! Hehe You'll spend your first two years comparing the differences .

[warlord 72]

Yes some feel homesick and others have no feeling at all. Myself and another friend I know who I met at work back in the 90's here who actually went to college in Guelph of all places, neither one of us ever felt sad we weren't in Canada. Sure it at first though it was weird getting adjusted to not having my friends around, but that would have been if I had moved to any city in Canada as well. As for the country barriers, neither one of us missed Canada at all and had no feelings at all of ever wanting to go back other than a visit.

Once you start making new friends and such, than things will really ease up and it'll be like living anywhere else. I know my parents joke about me moving back to Canada because of our crappy economy here, but I just laugh and tell them that will never happen

[Piefre 15]

Thanks for weighing in your experiences, everyone. Maybe I'll feel a little better when I get my Christmas cards sent out to my family and friends when I'm in the US. Does anyone still send physical letters back home? Seems with email and everything sending out letters and cards in the mail isn't as popular anymore, but I love stationary and for some reason the thought of sending actual, physical mail out is a little helpful.

[pocheros 101]

I don't miss Canada terribly much but I'm not close to my family, nor am I terribly fond of the last city I lived in. My best friend and I write each other snail mail though and send each other cards, packages, etc. It's really fun to get letters even though the mail is soooo slow for some reason (it took 3 weeks for a letter from Las Vegas to arrive in Toronto...)

[Marilyn. 340]

I don't really miss Canada but I miss my family a lot..

[pocheros 101]

It also depends on where you're moving to... I would probably feel really homesick and out of place in a backwater redneck town o_O But Las Vegas is pretty liberal and so far everyone seems really nice so I fit in well. The nice weather probably has to do with it too I DON'T miss winter! Ugh.

[Marilyn. 340]

I don't think I would want to move back to Canada but we are thinking of maybe moving to Washington or Oregon in the next year or two so I could be closer to my family.. my husband's work as locations in both of those states..

[Kimbear 53]

I still miss alot of things about Canada. I never had any friends really that were close and i was never close with my mom or sister. But alot of the things i miss are either food related, or goverment related. Also up north i was never afraid of anything, now that i've been in Chicago for over a year and a half, i'm scared of alot of differnet areas and some people. I'm scared of taking public transit unlike when i was in ottawra, TO or Montreal. Of course this could just be me manifesting all the fears my hsuband tells me about the south side and seeing murders etc every day of the week in the papers. House hunting has really made me miss Canada alot. And i am not too fond of the people here. I Find them terribly ignorant and rude to say the least.

If we could, i'd move out of here. But my part time job and hubbies job just does not make enough money in this city. Its so expensive to live here. I wish he could get transfered to another office i really do

[Piefre 15]

Sorry to hear about your hard time in Chicago, Kimbear. One of my dad's best friends live in Chicago and I think he loves it there. But when I was there the one time, it was a little intimidating because there were so many people and the city was huge. I come from a relatively small city in Alberta and I'm going to Florida. There's half as many people in Florida as there are in all of Canada! And it's so far away from my family too. It's going to be weird not having any snow during Christmas this year. Also weird to look outside in December and see green instead of white--and sometimes brown lol.