No-one is more aware of that than Uaine Tavae.
The 13-year-old was born in Samoa and came to Dunedin in January this year to begin her secondary schooling at Kaikorai Valley College.
Homesickness is only natural for a teen who has been sent nearly 4000km away from her family home, where her mother died in 2011 and her father remains as a church minister.
She said her homesickness had been compounded by the fact life in New Zealand was very different from her old life in Samoa.
It had been quite an eye-opener, she said.
While there have been great sacrifices for her and her family to get her here, Uaine is quickly realising there are also great rewards.
Recently, she used her experiences and observations about the different ways of life as inspiration for a speech, which won her second place in the year 8 New Zealand Samoan Speech Competition in Christchurch.
Aside from the weather being much cooler in Dunedin, she said her speech talked about the other major difference — that New Zealand children do not respect adults in their lives as much as Samoan children.
"Samoan children are much more respectful to their parents and teachers.
"For example, in Samoa, children don’t eat until after their parents have eaten. It’s out of respect to them. That’s our way."
Uaine said she was proud of her achievement in the national speech competition.
When it was announced she was the runner-up, she grabbed her Kaikorai Valley College flag and danced with it above her head like an Olympic athlete.
Uaine said the greatest part about her speech was that it had given her confidence and an opportunity to think about all the good things in Samoa, which had made her feel less homesick.
It has allowed her to settle into life in Dunedin, where she lives with her older sister, brother-in-law and their three children.
More recently, she has discovered there is a large Samoan population in Dunedin and she is enjoying socialising with them.
Having said that, she said she was already looking forward to the Christmas holidays, when she would return to Samoa to spend time with her father.
