I think homesickness is one thing and culture shock is another. I personally see them as separate experiences but very inter-related. For me, the addition of culture shock into the mix exacerbated any feelings of being homesick, exponentially sometimes.

Being out of familiar surroundings can be incredibly disorienting and frustrating in pragmatic ways, like just not knowing where stuff is, and it can be surprisingly draining. The lack of familiarity in social situations - not understanding various subtleties and cultural references that can make communication difficult and frustrating.

For me, when I feel homesick I feel a profound sense of sadness, loneliness and separateness. I feel misunderstood, socially awkward and like I stick out like a sore thumb. I feel these emotions even though I have friends here in Britain who love and care about me and who tell me that no, I'm not a social idiot. But when I'm feeling these feelings I find it impossible to believe them in fact it gave my self confidence a real blow that I'm still recovering from.

Plus, being away from family though a relief in many ways (you all know what I mean) is very painful, especially when there is an illness, special occasion or whatever and you're stuck on the outside of it.

Homesickness, at times, has hit me very hard. More so in the first couple of years than now and I think more extreme than the average migrant as I'm highly sensitive, a bit of a wimp and came here on my own with very little social support. I'm tearing up just remembering (I don't just have the t-shirt, I have the full ensemble with matching luggage ) but I don't think that happens to everyone.

Migration, even temporarily, forces you to grow and sometimes it hurts - but that pain it's not necessarily a bad thing.