Dépaysement

French, built from "dé-" ("un-, away"), "pays" ("country"), and the suffix "-ment" — literally a "de-countrying." It can describe both the discomfort of not belonging and the refreshing thrill of a change of scene. The word itself passes no judgment on which of the two you feel.

  1. noun · /day-pay-EEZ-mahn/

    The disorienting feeling of being out of your element in an unfamiliar place.

    The mix of unease and exhilaration that comes from being uprooted from your own country or routine.

    The first week abroad brought a dizzying dépaysement, everything from the doorknobs to the daylight subtly wrong.

    It is not homesickness, which longs for home; dépaysement is the strangeness of the new place itself, whether you welcome it or not.