When you’re abroad its perfectly normal to feel the effects of homesickness. Now , I haven’t really felt the full effects of homesickness since I’ve been so busy with classes, my internship and spending time with the friends I’ve made here. However, that isn’t to say that I haven’t had my fair share of moments that I didn’t wish I was with my family or friends from Rollins. In order to help you out though, I’ve decided to share some steps I took in order to lessen the effects of homesickness and bring my life back home into my life abroad.
- Try cooking a meal your family makes
So my grandma makes this amazing soup that I die for on rainy days or when I need a little pick me up. Due to daylights savings and winter coming in, London was dark and cold and sometimes very drizzly. So basically the perfect weather for this soup. Now, I’m really no chef but being abroad has me really thinking I can give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money. Basically what I did was I asked my grandma for the recipe and then facetimed her in the grocery store as I basically spent an hour on a Sunday walking through each aisle trying to find the British equivalent to the different ingredients this soup required. Basically I could find cilantro nowhere (protip: its called coriander). Cue an emotional response to the lack of cilantro I spent a rainy Sunday evening making a soup with my grandma on the other line. Now not only am I able to make a great meal but I can bring a bit of my family with me wherever I go.
- Schedule time with your friends back home
This is so incredibly important in order to avoid FOMO. While texting and snapchat have made everyone’s lives easier in terms of communication it really can’t beat a phone call or facetime which is the next best thing to actually being with your friends. I made sure to schedule time with my friends in order to feel included in their everyday lives and stay up to date as well as share the details of all my adventures with them.
Being abroad can be amazing but its also important to be self aware and acknowledge when you need to indulge in your life back home. Hope this was helpful!