Log #3

Picture from: http://www.sickchickchic.com/2016/02/brooklyn-book-review.html

The second book I choose to read is “Brooklyn”.  At the beginning, I thought this book was a typical romance novel like all the others. However, it described a lot about the changing of the mood inside the main character Eilis when she moved from Ireland to New York to work and live there.

Having left home to study in Taipei, I somehow felt that there was a connection between me and Eilis. I could understand how she felt when I was in the same position.  Staying in a completely foreign place was definitely new and exciting. However, when times went by, the thought of missing home and family can be really painful and overwhelming. In the book, the author described Eilis’ feeling of homesickness, “All this came to her like a terrible weight and she felt for a second that she was going to cry. It was as though an ache in her chest was trying to force tears down her cheeks despite her enormous effort to keep them back”. When I first came to Taipei to study, I was really exciting about the new environment and people, since Taipei had always been my dream place to live and study. But as time went by, I started to miss the accompany of my family so much that I even cried as soon as I heard my parents’ sound on the phone. When I was feeling down and lost, there was no one who I could talk to. I believe that time was my lowest point in life so far which frustrated me qutie a lot.

Fortunately, the condition of my homesick has improved a lot after staying here for over a year. But I still go back to Taichung almost every week as long as I am free. Since I am going to exchange for six months in Sweden next year, I hope I could quickly cope with this situation.

I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next to Eilis and her new life in Brooklyn.