Starting at University usually brings homesickness to most, at least for the first couple of weeks. This can be even more challenging for those travelling from a different country. I’ve listed my top tips for dealing with homesickness.
Bring your home comforts
When packing for university, bring any items that remind you of home. This can be pictures of friends and family, or any decorations that might be hanging in your room at home. Essentially, it’s anything that will make your university room feel more homely and comfortable.
Get out of the house and keep busy
Although you might feel like just sitting in your room doing nothing, get together with friends and go out for a coffee or a walk into town. Do something that will get you out of the house. Scheduling social activities will help you get your mind off your homesickness and it will also give you things to look forward to.
The University has a plenty of support services. You can speak to someone about homesickness if you find that you are getting to a point where you’re finding it hard to cope.
Call your family and friends from home
Don’t try to cut yourself off completely from calling your family. If you do, it will only make you miss them more. Start by texting, calling or sending them pictures, maybe 3 times a week. As you get busier with your studies and social events, this will decrease, but you will naturally begin to feel less homesick.
If you feel like talking to someone, try calling your friends from back home who may be in the same position as you. They might even be able to give you advice on how they’re dealing with it. Just remember that it is completely normal to feel homesick at university.
You can read more blogs on dealing with homesickness.
I do sometimes have homesickness and miss my parents. The new experience and new environment are interesting and exciting, but sometimes I miss the familiar things that I do not have at university.
I think it is right that you should stay active and explore new places, go out with friends. This distracts me from sad thoughts. You should enjoy the present moment and not dwell on the past. I recently went to a cat-cafe I read about in this blog, and it was a very fun experience that I enjoyed and completely forgot about my homesickness.
More tips I recently found in this infographics on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/gfmn18/how_to_deal_with_studying_away_from_home/ I think it’s worthwhile advice for all newcomers who are homesick and don’t know how to deal with it.