It is that time of the year again when school/ university re-opens and summer is officially over! Moving away from home after a long 3-month summer or joining university for the first time is a bitter-sweet feeling. We get to make new friends, explore a new city, try out new cuisines and live alone!! But at the same time while all of this is fun, it can be hard adjusting to a new routine, stepping out of your comfort zone and making new friends.
It is completely ok to feel homesick; it happens to most of us! No matter how emotionally strong one is, there is some point in your university life where you miss home. It can be because you are craving a home cooked meal, tired of doing your own laundry, miss spending time with your best friends and family or simply because you miss the comfort of being home.
It is definitely not the best feeling in the world, especially when you are living in a completely different surrounding all together! So, these are some ways which can help you deal with homesickness and hopefully make you feel better!
1)Keep Busy
The most important thing to combat homesickness is to keep yourself busy so that you do not think about home! Participate in co-curricular activities, go for campus events, plan study sessions with your friends, sign up for volunteering and go for lectures!!
2) Don’t spend too much time in your room
The worst think you can do when you are homesick is sit in your room alone and overthink all the possible scenarios in your head! If you are feeling homesick, go out for a walk, make a trip to the grocery store or simply go to your common room in your accommodation and hang there so that you don’t constantly keep thinking of things which remind you of your home.
3) Treat yourself
Go out for a meal with your friends, order in your favourite food, buy yourself something which you’ve been wanting or even take a day off! Remember to treat yourself and not be too harsh on yourself when you are homesick.
4) Make your room/flat more comfortable
Try making your dorm room/ flat feel more like home! Put up your friends and families picture up on the wall, carry few things from your home which you can put in your dorm room to make it feel more comfortable and lastly put as many fairy lights in your room as you possibly could!! It makes everything so much better!!!
5) Be Positive
I know this can be hard specially when you’re not feeling too great! But try telling yourself that everything is going to be fine. Remember the reasons why you wanted to study in a university abroad, remind yourself about all the stuff you have learnt while being at university and how much you are learning while living alone.
6) Explore the city
Make the most of your time living in a different city! Go sightseeing, watch different plays, try different cuisines! Make it feel like your home. Get familiar with the routes and different places so that you don’t feel alone and lonely!
7) Interact with friends
The best way to cure homesickness is to talk to your friends! By talking about different things, you will be able to distract yourself from thinking about home. Maybe even call up your friends from home, they are probably also going through what you are! So, you all can make each other feel better.
Remember, it will all be okay eventually! So, don’t worry too much and make the most of your time in university because it’s going to fly by really fast!