Learn Hardcore German: Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh. - When she moved abroad, she had strong homesickness at first.

als = when (one specific event or period in the past)
- Als sie ins Ausland zog, war sie 20.
  One move abroad, in the past.
wenn = whenever / if / when (general or repeated), or when (present/future)
- Wenn sie ins Ausland zieht, ruft sie ihre Eltern oft an.
  Whenever she moves / When she moves (in general or future).
wann = when? (question or indirect question)
- Wann ziehst du ins Ausland?
- Ich weiß nicht, wann sie ins Ausland zieht.

Here, her moving abroad is a single event in the past, so als is the correct choice.

Why is it ins Ausland and not nach Ausland or im Ausland?

The combinations are:

ins Ausland = abroad (movement to another country/countries)
- ins = in + das (preposition in
  - article das)
- Accusative (wohin? – where to?): movement
- Sie zieht ins Ausland. – She is moving abroad.
im Ausland = abroad (being located abroad)
- im = in + dem (dative)
- Dative (wo? – where?): location
- Sie lebt im Ausland. – She lives abroad.
nach Ausland is incorrect; you say:
- nach Deutschland / nach Frankreich (with specific countries)
- ins Ausland (for “abroad” in general)

So ins Ausland is right here because it describes movement to abroad.

What does ins mean exactly?

ins is a contraction of in das:

in das Ausland → ins Ausland

This is very common in German:

in das → ins (e.g. ins Kino, ins Bett)
in dem → im (e.g. im Kino, im Bett)

Because Ausland is neuter (das Ausland), in + das contracts to ins.

Why is the main clause hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh and not sie hatte anfangs starkes Heimweh?

German main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule: the finite verb must be in the second position, but “position” means “second element,” not necessarily the second word.

In the full sentence:

Fronted element (position 1): Als sie ins Ausland zog (the whole subordinate clause counts as one element)
Finite verb (position 2): hatte
Subject: sie
Adverb: anfangs
Object: starkes Heimweh

So we get:

Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh.

If you start directly with the subject and no preceding element, then you say:

Sie hatte anfangs starkes Heimweh.

Both are correct; the presence of the als‑clause in front forces hatte into first place of the main clause to keep V2 word order.

Is hatte here a kind of past perfect like “had had”? Why not hatte Heimweh gehabt?

No, hatte here is simple past (Präteritum) of haben, not past perfect.

hatte = had (simple past)
hatte … gehabt = had had (past perfect)

Your sentence is:

Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh.
→ When she moved abroad, she (initially) had strong homesickness.

Both actions (moving abroad and having homesickness) are in the simple past and are understood as happening in the same general time frame.

If you said:

Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie schon Heimweh gehabt.

that would stress that she had already experienced homesickness before she moved, which is a different meaning. So hatte (simple past) is correct and natural here.

Why do we say Heimweh haben with haben, not sein or a verb like “fühlen”?

In German, many feelings or states are expressed with haben + noun, where English often uses to be or to feel:

Hunger haben – to be hungry
Durst haben – to be thirsty
Angst haben – to be afraid
Heimweh haben – to be homesick / to feel homesick

So:

Sie hatte Heimweh.
Literally: She had homesickness.
Idiomatically: She was homesick / She felt homesick.

You could also say:

Sie fühlte sich anfangs sehr einsam. – She initially felt very lonely.

But with Heimweh, the natural expression is Heimweh haben with haben.

Why is it starkes Heimweh with -es on starkes?

This is about adjective endings.

Heimweh is a neuter noun: das Heimweh.
In the sentence, starkes Heimweh is the direct object of hatte, so it’s accusative singular neuter.
There is no article in front of the adjective (no ein, no das), only the adjective itself.

Pattern for neuter, accusative, no article → adjective takes the strong ending -es:

starkes Heimweh – strong homesickness
kaltes Wasser – cold water
schönes Wetter – nice weather

If there were an article, the ending would change:

ein starkes Heimweh – a strong homesickness
das starke Heimweh – the strong homesickness

So starkes Heimweh is the correct form for “strong homesickness” without an article.

What is the difference between anfangs and am Anfang, and why is anfangs used here?

Both can mean “at the beginning”, but they’re used slightly differently:

anfangs – an adverb meaning at first / initially / in the beginning
- Sie hatte anfangs starkes Heimweh.
  She initially had strong homesickness.
am Anfang – literally at the beginning; often more concrete or slightly more emphatic
- Am Anfang hatte sie starkes Heimweh.
  At the beginning, she had strong homesickness.

In your sentence, anfangs is a compact adverb that fits nicely into the middle field:

… hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh.

You could also say:

Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie am Anfang starkes Heimweh.

That’s also correct; anfangs just sounds a bit smoother and is very common in this kind of sentence.

Where can anfangs go in the sentence? Is its position fixed?

Adverbs like anfangs are quite flexible in German word order (within the “middle field”), as long as the verb‑second rule is respected.

All of these are grammatical, with small differences in emphasis:

Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh.
(neutral; common word order)
Als sie ins Ausland zog, hatte sie starkes Heimweh anfangs.
(possible, but anfangs at the end sounds a bit less natural here)
Anfangs hatte sie starkes Heimweh, als sie ins Ausland zog.
(now anfangs is fronted and emphasized; also changes the feeling/structure of the sentence)

The version in your sentence (… hatte sie anfangs starkes Heimweh.) is the most natural and typical.

What exactly does Heimweh mean, and is it always used with haben?

Heimweh literally breaks down into:

Heim – home, homeland
Weh – pain, ache

So it’s literally “home‑ache,” similar to “homesickness” in English.

Typical usage:

Heimweh haben – to be homesick
- Sie hatte anfangs starkes Heimweh.
- Hast du Heimweh?

Other related verbs:

nach etwas / jemandem Heimweh haben – to be homesick for something/someone
- Sie hatte Heimweh nach ihrer Familie.
- Er hat Heimweh nach seinem Heimatland.

But the basic, most common pattern is indeed Heimweh haben.