{"id":68101,"date":"2022-11-22T06:20:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T13:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=68101"},"modified":"2022-11-22T06:20:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T13:20:25","slug":"the-dark-side-of-being-an-international-student-homesickness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2022\/11\/22\/the-dark-side-of-being-an-international-student-homesickness\/","title":{"rendered":"The dark side of being an international student \u2013 homesickness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Enjoying the fall:<\/strong> Preet Kaur, an international student, takes a day off to enjoy the fall weather with her husband, Manmeet Singh, in Calgary Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. Singh came to Canada a month ago, and Kaur tries to do her best so that her husband doesn\u2019t miss home. (Photo by Namdeep Kaur\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>long with challenges like culture shock, finding jobs, and language barriers, homesickness is a major obstacle for international students.<\/p>\n

According to an HSBC report<\/a>, two-in-five international students feel homesick at least once a week. Nearly half believe missing family and friends has impacted their academic performance, while two-in-five say it has affected their ability to get a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

W<\/span>hen Harpreet Singh arrived in Canada in Sept. 2021, he had high expectations for the future. He had everything planned, but he didn\u2019t count on homesickness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving grown up in a joint family, I was attached to home and my two-year-old nephew, Gurniwaz, who was always around and brought smile and happiness. It was an immediate change for me to live alone, and I wasn\u2019t prepared for it,\u201d said Singh.<\/p>\n

Adapting to different kinds of food is also a significant challenge for international students.<\/p>\n

Perth Chopra, a University of Calgary student, misses homemade food and affordable Indian street food. He still manages to get something similar occasionally, but it\u2019s expensive.<\/p>\n

For Nigerian student Aziz Sanyasi, financial stress is one of the main factors that lead to homesickness. Due to the burdens of tuition and work, he doesn\u2019t have time to hang out with friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing for you is to have your tuition before you come to Canada, so you don\u2019t have to stress out with work and school at the same time,\u201d said Sanyasi.<\/p>\n

Despite all these challenges, international students find ways to cope.<\/p>\n

Abdul Rehman, a SAIT Student and former national soccer player from Dubai, connects to other international students using social media. He started a soccer team with friends and started playing after class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m stressed, I play soccer. If I\u2019m lonely, I play soccer,\u201d said Rehman. \u201cSoccer is my first and last hope besides life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh and Chopra, meanwhile, get strength from strong cultural and religious ties. After struggling with homesickness for almost a year, Singh finds peace in his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family back in India is very religious,\u201d said Singh, who visits the Dashmesh Cultural club every weekend. \u201cI still celebrate every occasion and meditate regularly. It keeps me connected to my roots and gives me peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stress buster:<\/strong> International student Abdul Rehman, left, plays soccer at SAIT in Calgary Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Rehman used to play national soccer in Dubai, and it’s his favourite thing to do when stressed. (Photo by Namdeep Kaur\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I have experienced homesickness for almost a year.\u2019 Some students travel far from home for higher studies [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":68299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S3 Homesickness NK","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1109,1725],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-68101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-mental-health","9":"category-nature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68101"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68399,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68101\/revisions\/68399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}