Even the most seasoned traveler has bouts of homesickness, especially on long term trips abroad. For instance during a work placement or when you are studying for a year or more and can’t afford to come home every other month.
Homesickness is essentially an acute form of anxiety or emotional distress that results from feeling disconnected from familiar people and places and forced out of your regular routine. So how do you overcome this sudden feeling of separation from all that is familiar?
Well here are a few tips that can help:
- Send Gifts Back Home
It goes without saying that your connection to family and friends back home is important. So you should consider giving gifts from your new country and sending them back home. This will give your days a fun purpose, keep you connected to those that are important to you, and become a tangible way for you to share your experiences abroad with your friends and family back home. Just keep the spending within reason.
- Overexpose Yourself
The typical catalysts that cause homesickness are for example crowded markets, public holidays, festivals and if you are in a rural area where everyone knows everyone else; you end up feeling like a fish out of water. The best way to counter this feeling is to get to know your surroundings, explore and get to know the people while letting them (i.e. the people in the community) know you too. Expose yourself until you’ve habituated to what they feel like – for instance, if crowded markets are overwhelming, then spend a lot of time there until you feel more relaxed. Show genuine interest in learning about the local history and festivals.
- Start a Journal
Whenever your heart starts to twinge with feelings of homesickness, pour your present thoughts into a journal – use an old notebook or the notes app on your phone. List reasons why it’s okay to feel homesick, like, “I’m starting a new phase of my life,” “It’s awesome that I’m independent,” etc. Or, even record your favorite quotes and lyrics.
- Create a playlist
Similar to the Journal idea make a playlist of your favorite soul lifting tunes and give it a listen anytime you start to get homesick. This is a go to of mine.
- Socialize
International students always have at the back of their minds the sacrifices that got them to that school abroad. So they are usually more focused and studious than everyone else. Feeling as if you have everything to lose isn’t healthy. If you’re swamped with assignments and projects, by all means you should probably finish. But, if your assignments aren’t due for a few days and you’re invited to a rave or the local bar by campus, check it out. You’ll never know how much fun you might have. Skip the excuses and just go.
- Join a club
This may seem like a typical suggestion, but it’s also completely worthwhile. If you don’t put yourself out there by joining a new club, a team, student activities board or student government, you could miss out on making some new, great friends and sharing how awesome you are with others. Get involved; when you’re involved, you have a ton of stuff to do and a ton of friends to be around.
- Share your feelings with others
It might seem like you’re the only person who isn’t immediately captivated with the new city, but the truth is that you’re not the first person to feel homesick – you’re likely not even the only one in your program. You might feel a lot of pressure to be positive about the whole experience, especially if you had high expectations when you arrived, or feel the need to put on a happy face when you talk to people back at home, but there’s no shame in being homesick. It happens to almost everyone, and trying to ignore it will definitely not make it go away. Instead try to confide in some friends about feelings you may be struggling with – chances are they’re going through a similar process, or have experienced something like it in the past and may be able to give you the support you need.
- Schedule Family Time
Plan a weekly phone or Skype date with your best friend or parents. It’ll be something to look forward to, and it’s a great way to solidify relationships with your friends and family. It becomes a special time of week. I remember the early nineties every Thursdays at 9.30pm we would gather in the neighbor’s living room to receive a call from my older brother who was living in the UK. It was good therapy for both him and us.
- Create a routine
Figure out what you’re going to do as a daily and weekly routine. This means not just waking up at the same time and cooking yourself a great breakfast, but also incorporating something fun or interactive — like going to a nearby market for your groceries, or meeting your friends for drinks or a sports game on Thursdays. Research shows that those that feel they’re in more control suffer from less homesickness stress.
- Exercise Regularly
Exercise is a crucial coping tool. Not only will it help you combat homesickness, but it will also keep you healthy and in shape while you’re abroad — both of which are important for anyone who’s a bit down in the dumps. On the other hand, eating badly and being inactive can make you feel lackluster and bring down your mood – which isn’t helpful if you already feel less than great. It might take a few weeks for you to get oriented to your new space, but once you start figuring out where things are, try to come up with a plan that allows you to get some exercise and fresh air every day. Go for daily runs, commute to class by bike or just try to walk as much as possible – whatever you prefer, but make an effort to create healthy habits. Your body will be happier, and endorphins are biologically programmed to make you feel better!
