Overcoming homesickness while in Paris

Overcoming homesickness while in Paris

I first felt a little homesick while I was walking through Place de la Concorde, and the song California by Jonie Mitchell started playing through my earphones. If you aren’t familiar with the lyrics, they start with “sitting in a park in Paris, France...” and goes into the folk singer singing about longing to go back to her home in California.  It’s an ode to being in a foreign place walking through busy streets of strangers, feeling a bit lonely. I remember even though I was surrounded by beauty, I felt a sense of melancholy otherwise known as homesickness. I am going to give you some first hand advice on overcoming the feeling of homesickness in Paris.

We’ve all felt homesick at one point or another. If you’ve ever left the comfort of your own home to travel somewhere far, chances are there were moments where you felt a bit out of place, lonely, or perhaps uncomfortable. There are many advantages to going abroad for traveling or moving to another country, but no one is immune to culture shock. I am an American French young adult who moved from the states to Paris a year ago. Even though I come from a French background and am familiar with Paris like the back of my hand, I experience homesickness regularly.

This is important topic to discuss. Some tourists can experience severe episodes of anxiety when their expectations don’t align with the reality of a large bustling city.

I hope that you can take some of these tips, put them into practice, and go back to enjoying the city that brings pure magic to millions of people.

Find a piece of home or something familiar

For me, a simple trip to Starbucks can sometimes do the trick. I moved here from having spent some time in the west coast USA, where Starbucks is part of the culture. Every time I feel a bit off, whether it be a negative experience at work, a falling out with a friend, or something not so pleasant, I become extremely homesick. For me, Starbucks symbolizes a little piece of home where I can go and order coffee at the bar, get the famous white and green cup, and even experience all the same Starbucks smells. Wherever you come from, find something tangible in the city that reminds you of home, and try to go there.  It can be a restaurant of your home culture’s food, an activity that you did back home, or even meeting with another expat who might be going through the same feelings as you.

Stay busy

One of the worst things you can do is have too much free time on your hands while being outside of your comfort zone. Keep busy: go for a walk, go for a run, explore new district, visit a museum, get lost, go to a work out class, start a language course and discover as many culturally new things as you can find. A big thing I found to help is (when I have the energy), always saying yes to new experiences. Learning to say yes  will allow you to experience new things you might not normally have thought to try. It’s an opportunity to meet a best friend, a significant other, or even a professional network. Think outside of the box. Try to push yourself to make new meaningful experiences. Look for afterwork parties, religious affiliated events, and get invited to social events through friends you meet. Stay busy when you start to feel yourself in a state of longing.

Try to remember why you’re here!

Take each day as it comes. It’s normal to feel homesick once and while. Paris is one of the most magical places on earth but it’s not an easy place to spend time in either. Once you’re over the honeymoon relationship with the city, it’s easy to become trapped in a mindset of negativity and loneliness. Add to that the difficulty of the language barriers and cultural barriers.

I get homesick a lot. It often happens when I am in a group of French friends. When everyone is speaking with each other very quickly, I tend to lose track of the conversation. I am not happy when I am not able to intervene in deep discussions. Sometimes I sit there with my palms in my lap and feel useless, or like a burden to my friends. This is common for those who spend large amounts of time in unfamiliar cultures. The most important thing is to keep a positive attitude. Easier said than done, but it’s about training your mind to focus on the positive things around you. I find that keeping a mental list of some of the reasons I moved here to be quite helpful.

If you’re here on a vacation, moved here long term for work, to learn a language or to simply have an adventure, remembering why you’re there will help you cope with the feelings of what you might be missing out on back home.

Here is my mental list of reasons I am here, which I remind myself of on days when I just want to curl up in a bed and listen to sad songs:

This is probably the only time in your life where you can live in a foreign place, learn about yourself, and take care of YOU.

You are making yourself valuable by living and working in another culture, developing skills you can bring with you anywhere you go in the world. People will be impressed by your bravery and ambition.

You are living a life of culture, art, love, and light. Not every day can shine like the others, but in perspective, the quality of life here is high if you know what your values are and what you appreciate.

Paris, despite its flaws, is the most amazing city in the world hands down. Take it for what it is. Ignore the negative experiences you might have had with some people here and focus on the architecture. Focus on the monuments. Focus on the people you met who changed your life and the friends you have now that you didn’t have a year ago!

Call your friends and family back home. We live in a day and age where we are gifted with advances of technology that allow us to feel close to anyone at anytime.

I hope these tips on how to overcome homesickness in Paris have helped you today if you need it. Be sure to keep that mental list of reasons you’re here. Your future self will thank you. Home will always be there, but this experience of spending time in a rich, unfamiliar culture will not!

If you want an idea for exploration, why not take one of our guided walking tours to discover a new area!