All through high school, you dreamed of and planned for this trip overseas.  Not just a 2-week holiday, no you plan to live and work in another country for a minimum of 6 months.  Total independence, what could be better? Your parents, although a little apprehensive, have been supportive and your friends are all jealous.  Now here you are halfway across the world and instead of triumph and joy, you feel homesick and depressed.

Rather than packing everything up and heading home a mere month after leaving there are things that you can do to help overcome homesickness. 

• Stay connected with friends and family.  This is where the internet is a godsend.  E-mail, facebook and twitter all help keep family members connected no matter how far apart they may be.  Skype goes even further by allowing face-to-face conversations. If vastly different time zones make it difficult to find each other online at the same time make a weekly date convenient to both parties and then make sure you keep the appointment.
• Display photographs of family in your new home.  We miss seeing our families on a regular basis so having photographs up helps us to feel connected and reminds us that there are people out there who love and care for us.
• Meet your neighbours.  There is nothing worse for increasing feelings of homesickness than loneliness.  Get out of your new home and meet the people, even if it is just saying hello to the local shopkeeper or barman.  A great way to meet people is to join a class.  The very act of learning something new is one of the best antidotes for homesickness.  You keep your mind and body busy and you get the added bonus of meeting people with common interests.
• Celebrate important family traditions.  These include Christmas, Easter and birthdays.  Try to follow your traditions as closely as possible to the way you would have done at home, but remember some compromises may have to be made.  If you can’t get a turkey for Christmas buy a rotisserie chicken instead.  If you can’t get rotisserie chicken well then Kentucky Fried Chicken will do.  Make sure you contact family members back home on these important days either by phone or on Skype to help you feel connected.  Also, don’t spend these occasions alone.  Invite new friends to join you in your chicken feast.
• Finally allow yourself to wallow occasionally.  Sometimes you just feel lonely and miserable.  Allow yourself that time but then do something positive to make up for it; sign up for that new class, take your camera out and capture the locals going about their business, venture somewhere new for a day trip.

This content was provided by one of our users, Penny