Deal With Homesickness at University as an International Student – Stay Positive and Feel at Home

Missing home is one of the most common experiences among international students and one of the least talked about. Moving abroad for university is exciting, but once the novelty of orientation week fades, the distance from family, friends, and familiar routines can hit hard. Learning how to Deal With Homesickness can make your university experience more comfortable and enjoyable.

What makes it tougher is that the obvious fix isn’t available. Flying home for a quick weekend trip isn’t realistic for most students studying overseas. Airfare, visa logistics, and a packed academic calendar all get in the way, so you’re left to build a sense of home where you are.

The good news is that homesickness is normal, temporary, and manageable. Here are four practical ways to deal with homesickness while you settle into life in your adopted country.

Here are practical ways to deal with homesickness for international students:

Staying in touch over WhatsApp or FaceTime sounds obvious, but there’s a difference between calling home and scheduling calls home. One of the easiest ways to deal with homesickness is to stay connected with people who make you feel comfortable.

Don’t wait until you’re already feeling low to pick up the phone. Put regular calls in your calendar so you always have something to look forward to and so you’re not constantly missing each other because of the time difference between your home country and your host country.

You can also make those calls feel less like a routine check-in:

• One-on-one virtual coffee dates with a parent, sibling, or close friend
• Group trivia or game nights with your friend group back home
• Study or cooking sessions where you’re both just doing your own thing on camera

Nothing replaces being in the same room as the people you love. But using technology to stay connected is genuinely the next best thing, and scheduled contact is one of the simplest ways to deal with homesickness before it builds up.

Just because your national holidays aren’t widely recognised in your new country doesn’t mean you have to let them go.

Keep the tradition alive. Cook the food, play the music, decorate your room or shared flat, and invite your new friends to join in. Sharing your customs turns a day that might have felt lonely into something you’re proud to host and honestly, who ever turned down an excuse to celebrate?

Most universities also have international student societies, cultural associations, or country-specific student groups. These are worth seeking out early: finding people who mark the same dates you do makes the calendar feel a lot less foreign.

Building a support network where you actually live is one of the most effective ways to deal with homesickness long term. When you have people nearby to grab lunch with, complain about assignments with, or explore the city with, the distance from home stops feeling so absolute.

That said, making friends as an international student is a genuinely hard new language, new social norms, and everyone else seemingly already sorted. It takes deliberate effort:

• Join societies and clubs, especially ones tied to a hobby you already enjoy
• Say yes to invitations early in the semester, even when you’d rather stay in
• Show up consistently to the same spaces, the gym, a study group, a weekly class
• Start with other international students, who are usually in exactly the same position

Treat it as something you work at, not something that happens to you.

Food is often the very first thing international students miss. The smell of a dish your mum or grandmother made can carry more emotional weight than almost anything else.

So learn to make it yourself. That way, whenever homesickness creeps in, you can give yourself a small taste of home.

You could google the recipe, of course, but a much better move is to call a parent or grandparent and ask them to walk you through it. They’ll be delighted you asked, and you’ll get the version with all the details no recipe blog includes.

Worried you won’t find the right ingredients? Ask around before you assume. International grocery stores, Asian and African supermarkets, halal butchers, and online specialty retailers stock far more than most students expect. Fellow students from your region are usually the best source of intel on where to shop. Cooking familiar food is one of the most comforting ways to deal with homesickness on a difficult week.

Homesickness can happen for many reasons. As an international student in the UK, you may be thousands of miles away from your family. You may also experience differences in food, weather, language, social life, teaching methods, and daily routines.

For Pakistani students, the change can feel even bigger when moving from a busy and familiar home environment to a completely new country. You may miss having meals with your family, celebrating special occasions together, speaking your native language, or spending time with childhood friends.

Sometimes, homesickness becomes stronger during weekends, holidays, birthdays, or cultural celebrations. Understanding that these feelings are normal is the first step toward managing them.

Homesickness is a normal part of studying abroad, especially when you are far from family and familiar surroundings. Stay connected with loved ones, celebrate your culture, make new friends, and enjoy familiar food to deal with homesickness. With time, patience, and a positive mindset, your new university and surroundings can start to feel like a second home.