Post-study abroad depression or more?
I'm just about to finish my year of working abroad in Spain (I did this independently and not through uni - I'm 27) and I really do not want it to end. I love it here and I love the Spanish culture, language, people and pretty much everything. Back in February, it suddenly occurred to me that I could live here and now I'm not sure I could see myself living anywhere else. The idea of renting or buying in the UK just doesn't seem worth it to me. I prefer Spain so much more to the UK, it just feels safer and more relaxed. The weather definitely helps! It's made such a difference to my mental health. My issue now is that I don't know if I feel this way because I'm leaving or if I really want to live here. I have a bf back home (who would 100% not move here) which I think is the biggest reason why I wouldn't just jump straight into it. I just feel really unsure of a lot and am not sure what to do for the best!
Original post by Anonymous
I'm just about to finish my year of working abroad in Spain (I did this independently and not through uni - I'm 27) and I really do not want it to end. I love it here and I love the Spanish culture, language, people and pretty much everything. Back in February, it suddenly occurred to me that I could live here and now I'm not sure I could see myself living anywhere else. The idea of renting or buying in the UK just doesn't seem worth it to me. I prefer Spain so much more to the UK, it just feels safer and more relaxed. The weather definitely helps! It's made such a difference to my mental health. My issue now is that I don't know if I feel this way because I'm leaving or if I really want to live here. I have a bf back home (who would 100% not move here) which I think is the biggest reason why I wouldn't just jump straight into it. I just feel really unsure of a lot and am not sure what to do for the best!
I can relate to this somewhat. I did a teaching internship in China for 6 months and when I came back to the UK, I had terrible reverse culture shock and felt miserable. I ended up moving back to China to live and work and stayed there for 5 years. It's a tough change to move to a different country (or back to one!), so feeling a bit uncomfortable with it is not unusual. There may be opportunities to move away again if you did want to, so it could be worth looking into. For me, I only moved back to the UK for good once I had a career path in mind that I couldn't really follow in China. Having a purpose here made me feel much better about being here and I've been happy here since I came back in 2017.
