Being Away From Home
Leaving home to attend the University of Michigan is an exciting event. It’s a unique opportunity to meet new people, to get involved in new activities, to discover a new town, a new state, a new region or even a new country. It’s also your first opportunity to know for yourself what it means to be away from home.

  • What does it mean to be away from home?
    It means that ultimately, you will long for a person, a place and/or an object familiar to you. This longing may be mild and easily solvable or it may be strong and somewhat overwhelming. No matter its degree of severity, if you want to understand and manage this new situation you’ll have to recognize that you are feeling homesick.
  • What is homesickness?
    Homesickness manifests itself in many ways, but if you catch yourself wishing too often that you were with your friends or family back home eating a meal at your favorite restaurant, or listening to your favorite DJ on your favorite home radio, you are homesick. You are homesick, but it’s not the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new one: a world where home takes on a new meaning.
  • How can you deal with these feelings?
    • Admit that you might be homesick; don’t ignore what’s happening to you.
    • Recognize that you are facing a new situation, a new challenge.
    • Share your (uneasy) feelings with someone.
    • Stay in touch with people who mean home to you.
    • Bring familiar object to your new surrounding.
    • Make your new surroundings a second home.
    • Always have a scheduled date to go home.
    • Don’t feel too sorry for yourself.
    • Get busy, set goals.
    • Do something you enjoy: exercise, go to movies, read fun books, eat out, talk with your friends, etc.
    • Don’t mistake being homesick for being overwhelmed by school work.

Being Far Away From Home
Starting a new life in a foreign country will inevitably feel like a never-ending succession of cultural discoveries requiring constant adjustments. Though initially this experience is exhilarating, in time, it can become a bit of a challenge. Sooner or later, trying to understand your new surroundings will make you long for home. The good news about attending the UM is that home is never really far as long as you know where to find those special things that will (almost) bring home to you.

Friends

  • If you want to make friends from your home country or region of origin, the International Student Association website is the place to go: http://www.umich.edu/~icenter/intlstudents/orgs.html
  • If you want to make friends with people from the United States or the rest of the world, you are in the perfect place, a university setting.

Newspapers & Magazines

Television
A few Channels on Cable TV or Satellite TV offer foreign languages programming. Unfortunately, Cable and Satellite TV are not free and their foreign language programming is minimal.

  • If you want to invest in a Cable or Satellite TV, depending on the company, you may be able to get:
    • The International Channel: 24-hour programming in over 25 different languages.
    • Bravo: Movie channel often showing foreign language movies.
    • Univision: Hispanic channel
  • If you wish to see foreign language programs for free, the Language Resource Center (http://www.umich.edu/langres) is the place to go. The LRC TV broadcasts both The International Channel and Scola Channel One, both with programming in several foreign languages.

Movies and Video Rental

Movies
The Michigan Theater and State Street Theater, the two theaters located near central campus often show foreign language movies. Unfortunately, only a handful of foreign languages are represented.

Video Rental
There are several Hollywood Video and Blockbuster stores in Ann Arbor. In general their collection of foreign language movie is satisfactory. In town, the rental store with the larger collection of foreign films is Liberty Video. We hope you’ll find what you need.

Food
Finding food from home is probably the best way to bring home closer to you. Ann Arbor has several International food markets and many ethnic restaurants.

International food markets

  • Near Eastern, Greek, Indian, & Pakistani
    • Big Market, 341 E. Huron, 662-4445 (carries a wide variety of Near Eastern and Greek foods)
    • Foods of India, 1168 Broadway, 332-0500 (carries a wide variety of Indian foods)
    • Golfside Market, 2642 Golfside, 434-4433 (carries a lot of food from the Middle East)
  • East Asian
    • Manna International Market, 1156 Broadway, 663-6868 (carries a wide variety of food from all over the world, especially Asia)
    • Sing Tong International Foods, 3115 Oak Valley Drive, 995-0422 (carries a wide variety of Chinese and Japanese food)
  • European
    • Big Ten Party Store, 1928 Packard Rd., 662-0798 (carries a wide variety of French, Italian and German foods along with imported wines, cheeses, coffee, and tea)
    • Merchant of Vino, 2789 Plymouth Rd., 769-0900 (carries a variety of everyday and gourmet items from all around the world, especially European, Indian and Mexican)

For a more complete list of international markets, a listing of Ethnic restaurants and many other useful things you need to know about Ann Arbor visit the International Center web site at: http://www.umich.edu/~icenter/life/shopping.html