Relocating your life from the land you've known since birth to the U.S. can be both scary and exciting. On the one hand, there is the thrill of adventure, opportunity and starting anew. On the other hand, it can be an overwhelming and alienating experience and you may find yourself yearning for the comforts of home. Wouldn't it be nice, for example, to be able to turn on the TV and flip on your favorite program or at least something playing in your native language? With satellite TV, these familiarities are just a click away.

While it's true that one of the best ways to integrate into a new country is to absorb its culture, that does not mean that you have to completely abandon your own. After watching the 5 o'clock local news and maybe this week's episode of Lost, you can switch over to one of the numerous international channels offered through satellite TV and find something nostalgic. No matter whether you hail from China, Italy, Mexico or India, you're sure to find a network to keep your roots intact.

Especially if you have friends and family remaining in your mother country, it's important to have one of your nation's news stations at your fingertips. If a disaster strikes at home, you're not going to want to have to hear about it from the lips of American news anchors. You'll instead turn to the faces of anchors you grew up trusting in your homeland. Not only will it save you the trouble of having to translate every word if you're not fluent in English, but local stations will inevitably have more information available.

Furthermore, there's no denying the fact that checking the score of a match between your home team and its rival via internet is incomparable to watching the play-by-play on television. Thanks to the wide array of sports channels available, satellite TV put you in the virtual bleachers of nearly any match worldwide. Add high definition to this scenario and it's enough to make one want to riot, as you can practically smell the booze off the rowdy, brightly-painted fans in the stadium.

Lastly, even if you don't feel the pang of homesickness drawing you to the television programs from your country of origin, you may want to utilize it to brush up on your native language. While it may seem hard to believe that it's possible to forget a language you've spoken since your very first words, there is truth to the saying "if you don't use it, you lose it" in this situation. Even watching one program a day can help to exercise your mother tongue and you won't ever have to scratch "bilingual" off of your resume.

No matter what your reasons are for wanting a glimpse of your birthplace, satellite tv can fill that void. From pop culture to news to sports, it's the closest you can get to being there without buying a plane ticket and it comes at a mere fraction of the price.