u/allaboutalexie

Hello everyone! I recently became an exchange student as of yesterday. In advance I requested to stay with a host family because it would give me the support I needed in a country I am unfamiliar with.

About a month ago I was put in contact with the host family I would be staying with, an absolutely lovely mother and daughter (who is a senior at the school I’m attending).

Going into it I had already seen pictures of the room before I had arrived, it is lovely, and I was made aware that there would be a long commute to university. Upon arrival I notice that host mom does not have a room, and instead opts to sleep in the living room, it makes me feel a little awkward and bad- like I’m pushing someone out of their own house. Not to mention that it’s one bathroom and three girls, and I feel nervous about taking up space.

Upon my commute to school there it is easy- host mom drives me to the bus stop- from the bus stop to the university, the entire process takes an hour (and my classes start at 8am), on the way back to the apartment I need to take two busses and walk blocks alone in the city between university-> bus stop 1-> bus stop 2-> and apartment. I’m not going to lie, the commute scares me a lot, and the other international students do not have to deal with this.

Today, I broke down crying to the coordinator of the program, saying I just felt bad, and the distance from the university made me stressed, she said it’s completely okay and that I can switch.

I told my sisters, and they said I need to suck it up, and that other countries are like this. After talking to the other international students none of them reported having the same situation as mine.

I feel like a bitch, requesting to change after talking to this family for a month and building a relationship. But I just escaped a living situation with drug addicts, and I’m paying alot (~4,000$ for the host program) and I feel like I’m going to loose it if I continue to feel this stress.

Has anyone else gone through this? Is this normal?
I would love any advice.

Hello everyone! I recently became an exchange student as of yesterday. In advance I requested to stay with a host family because it would give me the support I needed in a country I am unfamiliar with.

About a month ago I was put in contact with the host family I would be staying with, an absolutely lovely mother and daughter (who is a senior at the school I’m attending).

Going into it I had already seen pictures of the room before I had arrived, it is lovely, and I was made aware that there would be a long commute to university. Upon arrival I notice that host mom does not have a room, and instead opts to sleep in the living room, it makes me feel a little awkward and bad- like I’m pushing someone out of their own house. Not to mention that it’s one bathroom and three girls, and I feel nervous about taking up space.

Upon my commute to school there it is easy- host mom drives me to the bus stop- from the bus stop to the university, the entire process takes an hour (and my classes start at 8am), on the way back to the apartment I need to take two busses and walk blocks alone in the city between university-> bus stop 1-> bus stop 2-> and apartment. I’m not going to lie, the commute scares me a lot, and the other international students do not have to deal with this.

Today, I broke down crying to the coordinator of the program, saying I just felt bad, and the distance from the university made me stressed, she said it’s completely okay and that I can switch.

I told my sisters, and they said I need to suck it up, and that other countries are like this. After talking to the other international students none of them reported having the same situation as mine.

I feel like a bitch, requesting to change after talking to this family for a month and building a relationship. But I just escaped a living situation with drug addicts, and I’m paying alot (~4,000$ for the host program) and I feel like I’m going to loose it if I continue to feel this stress.

Has anyone else gone through this? Is this normal?
I would love any advice.

Hi everyone! First time posting here. I need some advice as to if I’m justified for feeling this way, and maybe some ways I could talk to my boyfriend about how I’m feeling.

To start, my boyfriend is going on a cross-country, three month long internship over the summer. Which I know isn’t long, but after he returns I’ll be studying in South America for four months… sooo along time. I’ll be making plans to see him in his state, but he cannot see me in South America due to money and school.
I asked him recently if I could be at the airport with him when he leaves, half-heartedly expecting a yes (because I want him at the airport with me when I leave.) He gave a vague response like “I don’t think so, it’s probably going to be a lot” I felt disheartened but thought maybe he didn’t know exactly what that day would look like for him, so he was being vague to give details later.

Now we’re almost one week away from his departure date, and I asked him again, and he gave the same response “probably not, there’s probably going to be a ton of my family there” and I can’t help but feel shunned. I completely understand that everyone has different family dynamics, but Damn, it hurts to be told you can’t say goodbye to your loved one.

I don’t know if I should bring up my feelings, if I’m being irrational, if this is even justified. I know I’m already emotional anticipating his departure but I don’t want these feelings of sadness to turn into resentment, because he can’t see things the way I do, or because I don’t feel loved in this way.

Any advice? Has anyone else gone through something similar to this?

Info to add: we’ve been dating for half a year