You’re a long way from home. The holidays are coming up. Flights are too expensive for you to go back home. It’s totally normal to feel homesick. My first holiday away from home felt the same. It was the hardest part of living abroad. However, as the years went by and I’ve adjusted more to this country, I’ve developed some strategies to cope with my homesickness. Below are some tips that helped me over the years that I think might help. Follow these tips to prevent homesickness during the holidays.
Adopt a positive attitude
If you are here reading about how to cope with homesickness during the holidays, it means that you want to feel better and actually enjoy the holidays. Congrats, you are one step closer to making this a great holiday! Having a positive attitude starts by accepting your current reality; the fact that you are far away from home and you will miss several family events. Although no one tells us, this is what we signed-up for when we decided to move to a different country. You can also build a positive attitude by thinking about your goals and the reasons why you decided to study in America. Adopting a positive attitude is essential.
Celebrate with your host family
If you have host family, spend the holidays with them whether it’s Thanksgiving or other American holidays. One of the main benefit of having a host family is to help you adjust in the country and experience something different. They want you to feel at home. Accepting that you now have a new family is very important. Spending the holidays with a host family is a great way to learn more about American culture and new traditions. If you currently do not have a host family and would like to have one, reach out to your International Student Advisor.
Surround yourself with people
If you do not have a host family and do not want to be alone during the holidays, find people with whom you can celebrate these festivities. These could be friends and their families, significant others, roommates, neighbors, co-workers, people you know from church…etc. It’s also perfectly understandable to want to surround yourself with people with similar culture as you. If you find yourself in this situation, then coming together to celebrate by cooking traditional meals and performing traditional holiday rituals might be a good option.
Make time to talk with your own family
Technology makes reaching out to people very easy. Use either Skype, Whatsapp or any video call tool that is available in your home country to video chat with your family. I recommend you call them first before starting any festivities with your friends or host family as I found that I didn’t enjoy the celebrations until I talked to my family. I automatically felt better after talking to them, as I was no longer asking myself what they were up to. Get that out of the way first, then have fun.
Find ways to stay busy
Whether it’s traveling to places you have never being before or trying to master a hobby that you just picked up, finding ways to keep yourself busy will distract you from being sad. I have happily spent several holidays by myself without feeling all the sadness and loneliness that use to come with it.
Follow these tips to prevent homesickness and enjoy the holidays!