Picture this, you just finished packing your bags, your boarding pass and passport are ready to go. It's finally time for your next adventure. You're ready to jet off to a foreign city with a new language, new cuisine, new culture, and amazing architecture. All the excitement follows you to the airport, and especially when you land in your final destination. By that point, everything is so new and your senses are basically being assaulted. This is most likely a place that you have only dreamed about going to. Now the perfectly curated Instagram pictures are reality. You start exploring, hitting up all the tourist attractions the very next day. Still completely amazed and abusing your icloud memory, this feeling can go on for days, maybe even weeks. Suddenly, you wake up one day without that same high that you were experiencing for weeks. Something is missing, that something is the familiarity of home.
I know this feeling all too well. Moving abroad was something I had dreamed of doing for so long. When I finally had enough money to do it, my eyes were filled with the glitz and glam of some fantasy. I kid you not I couldn't wait to leave home and go to a new place. When the time came and I was on my 19 hour flight, it was a new beginning for me. My homesickness came super early on, kind of in waves if I could accurately describe it. One day I'd be fine. the next day all I wanted to do was book my ticket back home. I definitely had some nights where I had to let the tears out (that's perfectly okay, crying is natural). Whether you are studying abroad, traveling for an extended period of time, or working abroad like me, here are my five tips to beating homesickness!
Keep Up Your Habits:
What I learned is that it's a good thing to keep up with regular habits that you had back home. This helps you create some sort of familiarity in your life, and it more or less makes getting through each day easier.
Create a Routine:
A lot of people don't realize how important a routine is. I know just winging it and being carefree, especially when you're abroad sounds so enticing. But trust me, having a routine keeps you mentally and emotionally balanced. It can help you have better time management skills, achieve goals, and stay healthy. When I got to Korea, I tried to build my routine within my first couple of weeks so I could stay level-headed, and get a clearer picture of what my life would look like here. The results have been marvelous, simply because it allowed me to settle in quicker.
Exercise:
I used to never work out or have the motivation to do so till I joined a Crossfit gym in college. Nowadays, I need exercise as a form of stress relief and to keep myself from feeling like absolute garbage. Keeping a consistent work out schedule gets me through a lot of stressful days. Since I do my workouts at night, it helps me get to sleep faster and better. The benefits of exercise are similar to creating a schedule. To me, it's a form of achieving mental clarity and staying motivated. It also helps to keep up your exercise regimen if you had one at home because again, it makes the transition to a new life that much easier.
Surround Yourself with Familiar Things:
When I came to Korea, I had this idea of trying to separate myself from American culture. Obviously it didn't work which led to my homesickness in the first place. I had to find a way to bring the taste of home in subtle ways. Personally, I don't like to go to American or American-style restaurants in Korea because they're just not good. Instead what I did was take familiarity into my living space. I setting up my apartment and decorating it like it would want it to look back home. Something else I also did was cook exactly what I would eat at home. Although, I do try to cook some Korean dishes here and there. Mostly, my meals are things that I would've eaten at home so long as the ingredients are available.
Explore Your New Town:
Jetlag hit me super hard when I first got here to the point where I didn't leave my house the first week, only for work. Where I live is more of a suburb, about 20 minutes outside the actual city. Here I am thinking that this was all Korea was, just farmland. Interestingly enough this is one of the most urbanized countries in Asia, but farms and forest cover 50% of the country. I started getting sad about my living situation even though my apartment is so nice and modern. The remedy for that was to go exploring. Once I got got over my fear of the language barrier, I ventured out into the town. I got to know all the local shops, restaurants, and other places. I think what also helped me was exploring different cities in my province such as Seoul, Suwon, etc. It definitely changed my perspective and filled me with gratitude my first couple of weeks. Making me realize how incredible this country is, and how fortunate I am to be living here.
Leave Facetime Alone:
Technology is an incredible thing and allows us to keep up with people from anywhere in the world. I fully appreciate how far technology has come in the past couple of years. Video calls help me stay in touch with people back home. I loved when my family or friends were gathered together and propped the phone on the dinner table or wherever. It made me feel like I was still part of it, almost as if nothing had changed even though I'm 7,000 miles away. However, after awhile it messed me up mentally and emotionally which is why I had to lessen the calls. I realized I couldn't still pretend I was living my life back in America. Doing that is the same as living in the past rather than the present. I had to live and enjoy the now, because a year can go by quick. When I lessened those calls I really immersed myself in my new adventure, and learned to embrace it. Keeping up with the people back home who have been supporting you since day one is fantastic. Just don't let that be your main focus because then you're not really seeing what is in front of you.
I hope you enjoyed my advice for overcoming homesickness abroad. Let's be real, you can't avoid homesickness, it happens whether you like it or not. You've been taken out of your natural element, and put into something that you have never been exposed to. It's a complete over stimulation, but if I got through, so can you. And once you do, you will realize that you are living the opportunity of a lifetime.
Stay tuned for more posts as I document my life living abroad
- Michaela
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