Study Overseas

Whether you're away from home for a few days, weeks, months, or years, most individuals ”especially students ”experience a bout with homesickness. This term that has been around for ages describes the distinct feelings of missing home and loved ones in a new environment and is often felt with intensity by international students studying abroad. Beyond just trying to understand and interact in a new place with people who may or may not speak the same language, students begin to question whether they truly fit in and feel accepted by their new surroundings. Without the ability to see old family and friends from home on a regular basis, students begin to miss and long for the familiar interactions. However, despite these quite normal thoughts, there are many ways to keep in touch and help alleviate the feelings of isolation and 'abandonment'. Keep reading to find out more!

Don't Feel Stranded!

Even though you may not be able to talk face-to-face, you can certainly come pretty close with the newest forms of communication technology. Internet chat programs such as Skype allow users to use video chat to talk ”computer to computer. It's free and probably one of the easiest ways to communicate with anyone from home!

Of course, there's always the more standard form of internet communication available ”instant messenger, which is also a free, downloaded program. There are many different programs to choose from, but each of them makes talking easy and well ”instantaneous! You'll never fall out of touch with people from home with IM.

The evolution of technology has made it really easy to use social networking sites to stay in contact with everyone. Using Facebook, MySpace, or the like, you can keep up-to-date with the adventures and misadventures of all your friends. These websites give you the ability to post notes back and forth and even upload pictures, so you are able to see exactly what people from home are doing and they can stay current on your life too.

Computers are a great resource, but sometimes you can never replace just hearing someone's voice. Skype is a good option, but you can also simply use the telephone. Using either a pay-as-you-go cell phone or picking up a calling card, getting in touch with people from home is only a few digits away. Both options are fairly inexpensive and give you the most familiar way of communicating.

You're Not Alone

Don't feel like you're the only one battling feelings of homesickness. In fact, more people than you think are feeling the exact same way. And colleges and universities everywhere recognize this fact and set up programs and other outlets for students to talk about and share their feelings and experiences with other students going through the same thing. Oftentimes this is through the International Studies program at the university, but other times it's a service that the university provides for all students, so international students may feel less isolated and different from the other students around campus.

Don't Let it Get You Down!

We know that it can be hard to miss the people and the places you are most familiar with, but if you follow these steps, you'll be well on your way to being able to still enjoy your time at your new university without missing home too much...

1) Keep in touch! Before you leave home, set up a plan for keeping in touch with everyone. Whether you want to use the internet, the phone, or snail mail, make sure that everyone knows how you will be contacting them and how they can reach you.

2) Make a schedule! We know you're going to be doing a lot at your new university, but in order to avoid getting caught up and forgetting to contact everyone at home, make a schedule! Set up a time that you'll call or IM ”maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks ”that you will sit down and make time for those at home.

3) Don't be afraid to talk to someone! There are people all over your new campus that are trained to help you deal with feeling homesick ”talk to them! Counselors, the director of international studies, professors, and more are all there and willing to talk with you if you start feeling overwhelmed and out of place. Utilize whatever resources your school has to offer to avoid getting in over your head.

4) Bring lots of pictures! Sometimes just having pictures and memories around you will help to you not feel so alone. Plaster your walls, your computer screensavers, and any place else you can think of with reminders that everyone at home misses and cares about you. Do whatever it takes to bring a taste of home with you to school.

5) Get involved! One of the best ways to avoid feeling homesick is to just get involved in things around campus. Get into your studies or find something to do outside of the classroom, but definitely find something to do that will take your mind off of missing home. Through whichever outlet or outlets you choose to get involved with, you will have less time to think about missing home and you will make friends to make you feel less lonely. It's a win-win situation!

6) Plan visits! If possible, plan visits for people from home to come to you, or for you to get back home. Although these trips may not be often, having a date to look forward to will help keep things in perspective and it won't seem like you'll never be back.