History Main / StrangerinAFamiliarLand

* This trope is very common with LGBTQ+ people who grew up in small towns then went away to The Big City where they're able to live openly with a support network of chosen family. Whenever they return home for the holidays or what have you, they often find that they no longer fit in with the small-town attitudes of their families, neighbors, and old friends.

** Teppic in ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', who finds it difficult getting used to the ways of Djelibeybi after being educated in Ankh-Morpork, and at one point refers to Ankh as "where I come from". In fact, he's the TropeNamer:

* Pretty much the upshot of the WorldHealingWave in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''. After all, what good are mystery solvers in a town without mysteries? Fortunately, Creator/HarlanEllison shows up to give them purpose in their lives again.

* Teresa Cristina, the consort of UsefulNotes/DomPedroII, was born a Princess of the Kingom of Sicilies, and left her homeland in the 1843. Her family's kingdom was toppled during the Risorgimento, and when she returned to Sicily in 1872, she was heartbroken finding everything she knew swept away.

* Happens twice in Shan's [[Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan first series]]. The first is when, in book eight, Darren returns to a city he met his first girlfriend in, but doesn't fit in (though it's implied that 1. the city isn't in the same country that Darren is from, due to the accents school students use 2. when he's going back to school, as a fifteen-year-old, when the last time he was in school was the age of twelve, i.e. fifteen years ago, he ends up looking like an idiot. Plus, being a vampire prince who has spent almost a decade doing vampire-y things probably hasn't helped him fit in to humanity well.)
** The second is in book eleven: Darren goes to his own hometown and sees his sister and other people, and decides it's better to not get involved in the lives of his former family and friends. Still, that doesn't stop the villains...

* It's a recurring theme in ''Series/DoctorWho'' that you can't just go back to normal life like nothing had happened. However, this leaves the ex-companions as quite a badass force in protecting the Earth when the Daleks return.

* Rose Tyler from ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[spoiler:after the Doctor tricks her into going home to save her from certain death.]] Also his former companion Sarah-Jane Smith, who complains about how hard it was just waking up every day and knowing she'd never see the grandeur of space again.

** This trope seems to be pretty widespread, as it's a recurring theme in the new series that you can't just go back to normal life like nothing had happened. However, this leaves the ex-companions as quite a badass force in protecting the Earth when the Daleks return.

* ''Fanfic/TheDesertStorm'': A post-ROTS Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself in this situation when he travels back in time before the events of ''The Phantom Menace''. The first time he arrives at Coruscant, he’s taken aback by how lax the planet's security is compared to the constant and tight security he was used to during the Clone Wars.

* Part of the {{Deconstruction}} of [[spoiler: Homura's ability to go back in time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. [[spoiler: The multiple attempts to change Madoka's fate end up changing Homura's personality from a ShrinkingViolet {{Meganekko}} to a cold [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell Shocked]] [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Aloof Dark Haired]] MagicalGirl who grows more and more distant from the other four girls with each repetition of the timeline because of what she knows and what they don't. The original vulnerable [[FanNickname Moemura]] is kept buried deep inside, only evident in select instances such as in Episode 11, when she tearfully laments to Madoka that while to her Homura was this mysterious transfer student whom she had only known for a few weeks, to Homura Madoka was ''everything'' because she had given up so much for her sake.]]

* Returning military veterans (not just [[ShellShockedVeteran combat vets]]) often feel this way when they separate from active duty. It's not a coincidence so many of the Literature examples above were by veterans. One [=WWI=] song fits the emotion: "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm? (After They've Seen Paree?)"
* Prison inmates, especially those that were in long enough that modern technology has changed the landscape since they went in (automobiles, computers, etc).This also applies to those who've lived in mental hospitals for much of their lives. The name for this in either of those instances is called the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_syndrome Institutional syndrome]]".
* People who emigrate to another country will get this feeling after returning to their original country after many years. The language and customs have changed enough that you have a hard time communicating even if you are still a fluent speaker.
* Returning from college can have you recognize barely anyone from your hometown. This was one of the reasons for the decline (and eventual abandonment) of many of Newfoundland's tiny outport villages: kids went away to school in larger communities, and after working and living there for a while had no interest in returning to an isolated existence.Some colleges put together pamphlets and other resources to help exchange students cope with "reverse culture shock" or "reverse homesickness." When a student spends a semester abroad, it's often enough for them to put down a certain amount of roots, so when they come back home, they miss it.
* Anyone who manages to wake up after spending a long time in a coma or vegetative state, although surprisingly, this doesn't seem to be the case with all patients suffering from these, as some patients after awakening have shown awareness of things that took place while they should have been completely unconscious and unaware of them happening, providing further credence to the idea that the brains of these patients may be more active than previously thought.
* When you move away for a long time before moving back, especially, if none of your old friends or relatives live there anymore.
* This often happens to LGBT+ people who grew up in a small town then moved to the big city where they were free to immerse themselves in queer culture. Returning home (usually for the holidays or a death in the family or some other circumstance not entirely within their control) can be an alienating experience, especially if they didn't fit in all that well to begin with. Many a [[QueerMedia queer movie and novel]] have this very premise.
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* On ''Series/TheAmericans'' this is responsible for a lot of the disconnect between Philip and Elizabeth, Soviet spies living in America. Philip recognizes that the decades he spent in America not only changed him but also changed his home country. If he ever goes back, he will not fit in and might not like the country the Soviet Union has become. Elizabeth is more of a zealot and refuses to consider this, holding on to an idealized vision of the Soviet Union that never really existed. As the show's timeline approaches TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, this conflict escalates with Philip giving up on the spy game and fully settling into his American life while Elizabeth becomes more fanatical in her views.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein uses this trope in some of his juvenile ScienceFiction (while ironically providing the TropeNamer for Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand), when the protagonist has learned and grown from his (it's almost always a male) experiences, but the people back home have not.

* Step 1: Go to college. Step 2: Graduate, drop out, or transfer. Step 3: Wait two/three years. Step 4: Come back and watch as you recognize barely ''anyone''. This was one of the reasons for the decline (and eventual abandonment) of many of Newfoundland's tiny outport villages: kids went away to school in larger communities, and after working and living there for a while had no interest in returning to an isolated existence.
* Some colleges put together pamphlets and other resources to help exchange students cope with "reverse culture shock" or "reverse homesickness." When a student spends a semester abroad, it's often enough for them to put down a certain amount of roots, so when they come back home, they miss it.

* This often happens to LGBT+ people who grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere then moved to the big city where they were free to immerse themselves in queer culture. Returning home (usually for the holidays or a death in the family or some other circumstance not entirely within their control) can be an alienating experience, especially if they didn't fit in all that well to begin with. Many a [[QueerMedia queer movie and novel]] have this very premise.

* This is a major recurring theme in ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool'' after Joe goes home after three years of being abused in the titular school. He finds that all his friends got to finish high school and live their lives normally; in particular, GirlNextDoor Chloe has a new boyfriend, and his best friend P is off at college three hours away. Meanwhile, Joe is so PTSD-ridden that he can hardly bring himself to leave his house, let alone socialize.

* This is a major recurring theme in ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool'' after Joe goes home after three years of being abused in the titular school. He finds that all his friends got to finish high school and live their lives normally; in particular, GirlNextDoor Chloe has a new boyfriend, and P is off at college three hours away. Meanwhile, Joe is so PTSD-ridden that he can hardly bring himself to leave his house, let alone socialize.

* Anyone who manages to wake up after spending a long time in a coma or vegetative state.

* In the "Threeboot" version of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'', Triplicate Girl comes from a planet populated entirely by duplicates of herself. At one point, she tried to go back, only to find that the selves that had remained on the planet were now afraid of her, because her adventures with the Legion had changed her so much that she was no longer identical to them and they now saw her as an outsider.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' ending, this happens to all of the hobbits in varying degrees. Frodo has the most problems with the "happily ever after" part, although Pippin and Merry also have trouble with staying in the Shire for long, and in the end, they spend their last years with Aragorn in Minas Tirith. Sam is the only one who seems to fully fit in again, but after his wife dies, he follows in Frodo's footsteps and sails away to the Undying Lands in the True West. [[http://spontaneousderivation.com/2010/10/09/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-fiction-part-2-babylon-5-and-lotr/ Some fans]] believe Frodo had PTSD. Tolkien was a veteran of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
* For that matter, ''Literature/TheHobbit'' hints at the same problem for Bilbo, and the opening of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' even more so. His experiences with the Dwarves and Smaug ensured he never quite fit in with the hobbits again, and when he abandoned the Ring, he left the Shire for good, living the rest of his life with the Elves. First in Rivendell, later in the Undying Lands.