by Teresa Chen

Homesickness is something we all can’t avoid, you might think that you are super excited about the upcoming journey. However, homesickness hits you before you know it.

Before taking off, I thought that I would have no trouble with homesickness because of my personal experiences of travelling and studying between Taiwan and New Zealand. But who knew that homesickness hit me on the first night, when jet lag made me wake up at 2 a.m., and I stayed awake for the whole night. All I had in my head was me questioning whether going on an exchange was the right decision.

Looking back, it took me around 2 days to deal with homesickness, which is pretty short, and for me the step that really made the difference was to join orientations and events. 

Below are some tips and tricks that you can try out if you happen to face the same situation as me 

• make friends/ meet different people and talk to them
• Fill up your experience with activities and go to any possible events (join and get involved in orientations/ clubs)
• Don’t think about it too much/ don’t let yourself be dragged into this deep hole of loneliness and depression, because if you sink in too much it’ll be hard for you to drag yourself out of this mental state
• Face timing families/ friends/ people that are important to you and share what has happened today. This will help you to remind yourself about the happy moments and what you have cherished during this journey
• Make your dorm/ residence hall feel like home so that you have a place where you feel comfortable and relaxed.
• Never question yourself, even if you’re regretting the decisions you have made, you can’t do anything about it to this point. You can’t change the past but you can try and make the future better, so focus on the future and not be trapped by the past.