We may have a lot of things in common except I never left college despite doing a pretty shoddy job.
As for homesickness... let me give you my story.
I joined the RoK Marines back in 2005. I had grown up entirely abroad, my command of Korean was limited and remember that Korea is pretty xenophobic. A lot of guys resented the fact that I was somewhat foreign. They think growing up abroad is some kind of paradise. Despite working very hard, I was the target of a LOT of crap. Like Spike, I won't go into them... the RoK Marine Corps is notorious for being a pretty bad place full of pretty bad people. Not to mention, even when I went on leave, I only had one friend in South Korea. We became friends because he lived in the US a few years and went to the RoK Army a few years back. We both liked to go watch soccer games and that's how we started hanging out... but imagine that... ONE friend! And my family was all abroad. Until I saw my brother late last year, I had not seen him in three years.
So how's that for being away from people in a foreign land?
But guess what? After a while I got used to it and started becoming damned good at it. You will get used to being away from your folks and you will get to know your own people and grow close to them. Do not worry. It's only a stage you have to go through.
In fact, I met my wife while I was in the Marines. She was a graduate student when I was doing undergraduate in the US and she was stopping by. After communicating by email and such for a while, she popped the question.
Now after life took me this way and that way I'm seriously considering re-enlisting in the RoK Army... not sure about officer but most definitely can make E-6 real quick.
So the bottom line is, do not worry. You will be fine my friend
