The pressure of starting a new life in a totally new environment can sometimes feel like it's a little too much and being away from your family and friends can be tough. But here are four things you can do to make yourself feel more comfortable and prevent homesickness from ruining your university experience.
Keep BUSY
Staying in your room and feeling sorry for yourself will certainly not help. In fact, it will just make your homesickness worse. So join a society, take up a sport, organise to go out with your flatmates, or do anything to keep you distracted and prevent you from feeling lonely. The societies and events that the uni organise are designed to make students meet lots of people and keep busy, so take advantage of the many opportunities that your uni has to offer and get stuck in!
Keep in CONTACT
Speaking to someone you're close to can instantly make you feel better, so don't lose touch with your loved ones back home. Your family and friends will love to hear from you, so pick up the phone or Skype them to have a catch up. But don't call them obsessively as this can make you feel more homesick.
Keep HEALTHY
For many students, getting a takeout or readymade meal is always the easy way out of cooking. Of course there's nothing wrong with having the odd Chinese takeaway once in a while, but having it on a regular basis will make you feel sluggish and completely drain you of your energy, making you tired and can make you feel more homesick.
A healthy body equals a healthy mind, so abandon the takeouts and move on to the fruit and veggies. Not only will a healthy diet make you feel better, it will also boost your energy and concentration levels by a large amount. As well as helping beat homesickness, keeping healthy will help you avoid Fresher's flu and any other nasty viruses flying around your student halls.
Seek SUPPORT
If you feel like you are really struggling with beating your homesickness, take advantage of the student support facilities at your uni to help you out. Every uni will have a student support unit where you can speak to counsellors or student mentors who can offer suggestions on how to make you feel more at home. Homesickness is extremely common, so don't feel embarrassed to seek support from the people at uni as they are there to help.
As a final note, make sure that you don't keep homesickness a secret. By not dealing with it, you will end up feeling worse, so it's always helpful to either talk about it or keep active. There are plenty of things you can do to beat it, and you'll be surprised at how many people get homesick. So don't let it get you down and be positive as it all works out in the end!
