Half a World Away: The Quiet Search for Connection Abroad

When I first left Australia for England, I told everyone I’d be back in six months. It was meant to be a short stint - a little break, a chapter, a quick adventure before returning to the comfort of what I knew. But six months has turned into three years, and somehow, I’ve built a whole life on the other side of the world.

And yet, in many ways, everything still feels… temporary.

There’s a unique loneliness that comes from living abroad. Not the dramatic, soul-crushing kind, but a quieter version. A soft ache that hums underneath the good days. It’s the kind that creeps in during small moments: when you want to call your best friend but the time zone makes it impossible, when you miss a family birthday for the third year in a row, or when you're sitting at a pub with new friends who don’t really know the full picture of you.

Because when you're the one who's "just here for a little while,” even if that little while turns into years, people often hold back. And sometimes, so do you.

The Distance in Time

Maintaining close relationships across time zones takes more than effort, it takes intention. You stop relying on spontaneous calls and instead live by calendars and scheduled FaceTimes. Conversations shrink into summaries. You try to bridge the gap with photos, voice notes, and the occasional meme, but it never really replaces being physically present.

And the hardest part? Life moves on back home. New babies, new partners, new jobs, even new slang. All of these things unfold without you, and no amount of updates can close the gap entirely. You're still part of it, but you're no longer in it. And that’s a strange thing to come to terms with.

Making Friends When You’re Temporary

Building new friendships abroad is its own kind of challenge. You crave connection, real connection, but it’s hard to ask people to invest in you when they know you might leave. You become the “fun Aussie friend” or the “traveller passing through”, someone that people tend to like but don’t always let all the way in.

You learn to savour the friendships that do grow, the rare ones where it doesn’t matter if you stay or go, because someone chooses to know you anyway. And when those people show up, it feels like home in the most unexpected places - over a Sunday roast, on a rainy walk, in a late-night chat over wine.

An Honest Take

I don’t write this for a pity party, and I’m not looking for sympathy. Living abroad is one of the most enriching, expansive things I’ve ever done. I've grown in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I’ve explored so many beautiful places, tasted unfamiliar food that now feels like comfort, and met people who’ve changed my life, even if they were only in it for a short time.

But it’s also okay to admit that this life comes with its own emotional weight. To move across the world is to choose a kind of in-betweenness where you fully belong nowhere, yet find fragments of yourself in many places.

And maybe that’s the most beautiful part. Connection, even when it's fleeting, still matters. And sometimes, those small, intentional, hard-won relationships become the most profound ones of all.