Wow, I had no idea you were using this space, so I never bothered to check it until now.

*hugs* Dealing with the unexpected is stressful on anyone, regardless of the valence of the change. Hell, dealing with an _expected_ change as big as living in a foreign country far away from the people you love isn’t particularly easy, and you had this six months thrown on you with, what, a week’s notice? Just know that there is an end in sight, and that as things go it’s not that far off. It seems to me like you’ve been using the time well and holding up to the challenge pretty admirably. 🙂

And culture shock can deal a big blow to anyone’s mood and stability, so it’s possible, although I’m sure the positives outweighed the negatives, that going home for such a short time made things worse temporarily. When I was worried about my rather wonky mood while visiting you in February, Andromeda suggested that the culture shock of travelling to somewhere as culturally different as Italy is from Finland, itself a foreign country to me, for a mere five days may have had something to do with it. She was probably right. After another week back in Italy, I’d be surprised if your spirits didn’t lighten a bit. It won’t make the family or the Dawn foo go away (and I wish you strength in dealing with both), but every little bit counts, I think.

And you should be getting some mail soon. 🙂