September first 2023, I left my hometown and travelled to Ecuador to work as a volunteer in an orphanage. It was my first time being away for so long and it was not always easy but never complicated either. Obviously, I can only talk about my thoughts and experiences and everyone handles this situation differently.
At the beginning I didn’t miss my family and home to much because so many exciting new things were happening that there was no time for anything else. After a couple of weeks everything settled down a bit and I had created a routine for myself. I believe that’s the time were many people might start to be homesick but for me that didn’t happen because I found amazing friends here that I could talk to on a daily basis about everything. What truly helped was that my friends were German volunteers as well which means we were in the same position. Another reason why I wasn’t homesick was my host family that I lived with, since the very beginning I felt extremely comfortable and was treated amazingly.
And if I wanted to talk to my family or friends, they were only a phone call away so it was always easy to stay in touch with many people. Even though the different time zones made it a little bit tricky sometimes but we also got the groove of that.
The first time I truly missed home was probably during Christmas time which I expected. Christmas is my favourite holiday and spending it with my family and all the German traditions that come with it is important to me. So, spending that time on the other side of the world was sad for me especially because I saw my family and friends in Germany having the Christmas that I wanted. But the other volunteers and I still had a good time and tried to bring some of the German traditions to Ecuador. And looking back on it now it was great to see how other cultures spend and celebrate this time of the year.
Since than the time has flown by and we travelled so much and experienced so many things that there wasn’t much time for missing home especially because over all those months this city and family started to feel like home for me.
I also have to add that my mum and my sister visited me which probably helped because I had my family here with me for a couple of weeks and could show them my life here.
So, in general I can say that for me it was easy to be away for so long but as I said at the beginning everyone has a different way to approach that topic. But what I know for sure is that the time here was an incredible experience for me and I definitely learned a lot.
Greetings Lucy xxx