Since I moved abroad 10 years ago, so much has changed. I feel like an outsider in the US.

The author occasionally visits her family in the US for occasions like her grandmother's birthday. Courtesy of Catherine Work I left the United States 10 years ago. Living abroad has changed my relationship with friends, family, and my hometown. Now, when I visit home, I feel a bit like an outsider. This September marks 10 years since my father died , and I left not only Florida, but the United States. Leaving the country was difficult, but now I'm working through a new type of grief: losing my connection with the US. My relationships with my friends, family, and hometown have changed — but so has my relationship with myself. It's not a feeling of wanting to return home, but realizing home continued without me. I moved abroad at 21 I packed my bags at age 21 to move to Cameroon to serve two years in the Peace Corps.