On being an international student away from home...
3 months is fun because I'm excited with the new place;
6 months is still okay, I get to know more the new culture;
9 months is getting a little lonely because you start to miss home;
12 months you decide to take recharge by visiting home and new places;
15 months gets really boring --- you don't want to get deeper with the foreign culture because you know after 3 years you'll permanently go home;
18 months is crisis period --- you realize the new friends you have won't replace the old ones --- they don't know you that much, worst you now often get pissed-off; but thanks for close friends and family who show they're always there --- they make me smile;
21 months --- I don't know what's next but I hope I get excited again as the end year approaches. I also hope all around become fair;
Understand our feeling of longing. We maximize all means of communication in private or in social media. Anyway, there will come a time when the world turns around :)