Maybe you’ve seen the American TV show “Cheers”, and are familiar with how one of the characters entrances to the bar are met with everyone shouting his nickname—“Norm!”  Maybe you have a place in your home country that’s your version of “Cheers”—a favorite café where everybody, indeed, knows your name.  The owner asks after your parents, and the first drink is always on the house.  A big upside to being home from your ESL study abroad is that you can finally visit all your home favorites.

Visit Your Favorite Café

Gather with your friends around a dinner table, and exchange stories of the experiences you’ve all had during the time apart.  Your favorite haunt is the kind of place where the staff closes the restaurant down around you while signaling you’re all fine to stay as long as you like.

Sit at a coffee shop’s outdoor table, and people watch, let the rhythm of daily life bring you back in tempo with your native country.

Home isn’t just the house you grew up in.  It’s the businesses you spent your money and time in.  People you only nodded to on the street remember you, and smile and wave when they see you again.

The local library, where you curled up with your first English language primers, your former school, the park where you played soccer, and so many other places that you hadn’t even realized you’d missed while you were abroad.  These places are the landscape of your past.  You’re attached to them by your most emotional experiences.

ESL study abroad in the US separated you from your family, friends, and home favorites.  When you return to your country you can enjoy and embrace all the things that make up your definition of home.