Studying Abroad And Struggling With PTSD

[Tessa]

Hi Kait,

Hang in there.My daughter is having similar problems.

I live on an Aboriginal community but can't say I've ever eaten hedgehog or snakes. Goanna tail is nice and bush turkey ok if cooked enough. Don't like turtle much but the people here love it!

Take care and keep smiling. We are here for you.

Hugs
Tessa

 

[anni]

Hi Kait,

I saw you'd posted again and thought I'd say hi and also date myself. It's been 30 years but remember feeling like that. I was in the UK in the same boat. The 'words' thing made me laugh, but if you're not seeing anything funny about please excuse me! I just got in an awful lot of trouble not knowing what on earth things meant, and things which were swear words over there were harmless back in the States. It didn't help that of course the other students knew that and dropped me in the soup every chance they got.

It did take awhile to find people to click with. I don't even remember how it happened, but eventually the Yank just kind of grew on everybody. I think my problem was ( and please don't think I'm implying at all it's yours) that I assumed in my 19 year old head that because everyone spoke the same language, there would be a lot more than that in common. It was just an entirely different culture, of course, and it took some time to get that into my head.

What a great major to keep you absorbed in the meantime! I hope it's going beautifully for you, and things in general feel better quite soon.

Take care,

Anni

 

[her_indoors43]

Hi Kait too....

 

[Kait]

Hey Tessa,

Thanks for the support. Goanna tail? Whats that? And, turtle really? Sounds like I need to find a way out of the city!

Kaitlyn

 

[Kait]

Hey Anni!

Don't worry age is just another word for wisdom, and I'll take all the advice I can get. Language is a huge thing here. Aussie's shorten shorten everything so I look at conversations as riddles. Most of the time I'm just confused, and found that my confusion is a good ice breaker. But, I am still feeling really disconnected.

I guess it doesn't help that the anniversary of my trauma is coming up next month. I think that's sort of what I am focused on at the moment which is really unfortunate. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to have this experience, but most of the time I just feel miserable especially know that its coming so soon.

Any more pieces of knowledge?

Kait

 

[Kait]

Hello to you too!