Dealing with homesickness when studying abroad is a perfectly normal thing, but can be one of the hardest things you will have to face when you are leaving home. Since you are in a strange environment, the best way to cope with homesickness when studying abroad is by getting used to your new surroundings. Taking the trip around town may boost your awareness of your new surroundings, as well as give you the Galavant experience of dealing with homesickness abroad.
Bringing small things that will help make your new place feel like home is crucial for understanding how to cope with homesickness abroad. Doing things that you enjoy and are familiar with at home will help alleviate some of the homesickness. Whether it is visiting a new place or creating a new routine, embracing the new opportunities will make it easier for you to cope with homesickness during college.
Getting out of the house helps you to keep from feeling homesick, and allows you to try new things that you would not have been able to do at home. Even if you are nervous, going out with friends for the first time can be an awesome experience that helps you feel a little less homesick. Trying to make new friends might sound hard in your mind, but we promise that this is going to be one of the best things you can do in college for your mental health and for improving homesickness.
Getting out and staying social is the best way that I know of to keep homeickness at bay. Homesick feelings can come on when least expected, so keep this positive attitude, keep yourself social, and keep your mind well-tended. Whether you are experiencing these feelings yourself or somebody you know is, it is important to find healthier ways of dealing with homesickness. You are going to be feeling primarily alone if you are experiencing homesickness, and journaling may be making it seem like you are not.
It might seem absurd and confusing, but the fact is, talking to your loved ones too much is going to keep you from experiencing new things and it is going to worsen the homesickness feelings. While this may make distance seem much shorter, constantly texting or calling family and friends back home makes you miss them more, and it also makes you less likely to engage with your new friends. Studying abroad may make it easier to feel as though you are missing out on things back home, but thanks to modern technology, staying connected to your loved ones is a breeze.
Along with video calls to your family and friends back home, having friends in your hometown that you can check in with definitely helps to curb home-sickness. It will be a great opportunity to make a new friend and make plans to stay connected to each other in your new country of residence. While this may be difficult to do while you are living in a foreign country, make an effort to stay in contact as much as you can.
You will find talking with someone about your homesickness abroad is therapeutic. Talking with family may help you feel a little less sad and lonely initially, but you will eventually realise it only makes you compare and remember the times back home.
Your homesickness is more common abroad than you might imagine, and chances are that your friends overseas are experiencing it, too. Feeling homesick while living abroad is a very common, but challenging, feeling for many people.
The definition of homesickness is a feeling of yearning for ones home while being away from it for some time. Homesickness is an emotional sadness caused by being separated from ones home. Homesickness is a sharp form of distressing worry or emotions that arises when you feel detached from your usual persona and places, being forced to leave your usual life.
Homesickness may result from a number of different factors, including difficulties in adapting to new surroundings, feeling alone, or having a lot of systemic support. This concern may come from various reasons, such as feeling lonely, being unable to adapt to a new environment, or feeling as though you do not have enough support.
If you are feeling physically unwell, it is sure to add to the feelings of sadness, anxious thoughts, or homesickness, so make sure you are taking care of yourself.
It does not matter whether you are moving, living, studying, or interning abroad: Homesickness will hit you. It is completely normal to feel homesick when moving to a new country, however, we wanted to provide you with our best tips for overcoming it. It is extremely common for international students to have a culture shock, so to help you prepare for studying abroad, read through our Top 10 Tips to Deal With Culture Shock & Homesickness.
Check out my post, Culture shock, homesickness, and Aha moment, for deeper solutions for dealing with both culture shock and homesickness, and for ways that I was able to overcome both when studying abroad. Remembering your Why, keeping a positive attitude, communicating with long-distance loved ones on a regular basis, documenting your experiences, and acknowledging when it is time to ask for help were key in Elinas transition into her new life overseas.
However, no matter why you are feeling these emotions, no matter how strong, they can truly derail your experience studying abroad. You are just experiencing the flipside of a study abroad emotional rollercoaster, where, after all of the bliss from the initial introduction to your new country, you are a bit homesick. While homesick, there is no way that you will feel comfortable living in a foreign land as an international student if you constantly compare the place of study abroad to your country back home. Whether it is missing family and friends, or your favorite food, feeling homesick abroad can be difficult to cope with alone.
These feelings may be short-lived, sometimes lasting only until you have settled down and started meeting interesting people and making new friends, or they may last longer, having negative effects on the persons life. FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing, and social media makes it easier than ever to stay up-to-date with friends, and still manage to feel like you are in the loop, even though you might be across the ocean.