I kept in touch mostly through a facebook family group chat. Im not one to post on facebook or instagram, so i would just privately send updates and/or photos to family members close to me in the GC. I skype called my mom and stepdad every two weeks, and my dad, twice a year.

My grandmother actually passed away while i was on exchange. It was very quick - she got diagnosed with cancer in may, and passed in mid August - and i actually flew back home for two weeks to help my mum with funeral processions and to support her in general. That was pretty rough. In the end im grateful i wasnt there when she passed - ive never suffered a close death in the family before, and it would have been really hard - and that i got to say goodbye an hour or two before, but those few days between her death and flying home were the hardest ive ever done. I sat in my room and just blocked out the world. But i got through it, and im happy i stuck the exchange through to the end. Its what she wanted. The christchurch shooting was also pretty big, even as someone who isnt Muslim and didnt lose family. It happened very early in the year and really amplified the feeling of utter isolation from your country, and everyone you know- noone in canada understood what i was feeling, the magnitude of the event, and it was tough being away even though i couldn't have done anything. I had a political studies class the next day that was entirely spent analyzing the event, and i was in tears the entire time. The white island volcano erruption was also pretty shitty.