As the days draw closer and closer to the Easter holidays (and the deadlines loom sooner), many students’ thoughts will turn to home and the notorious feelings of homesickness may start creeping back again. This is common in students - the National Union of Students found that 50-70% of students suffer from homesickness in the first few weeks and at difficult times I, for one, have been feeling like this in the last couple of weeks as the assignments pile up, the tiredness from all those late nights catching up with me and days, such as Mother’s Day, pass without seeing my family. I’m an only child that has never lived away from home, so I’m used to having my parents around. So I expected to be quite homesick upon starting university last September. However, surprisingly, I was perfectly fine, apart from the initial few tears as my parents drove away on the first day. I’ve worked out how to not feel homesick while also the elements that make me think about home. Here are a few things to help you get rid of that sad feeling if you’re feeling homesick:

1) Surround yourself with people – I know when I feel homesick, I make sure now that I’m around my flatmates, who remind me of why I like where I am living in Bournemouth. While some aren’t as lucky as I am with great flatmates, as long as you surround yourself with people you have made friends at university rather than the friends who may remind you of home, it may put your mind off home for a bit.

2) Keep yourself busy – With assignments, reading, lectures, extracurricular activities, and socialising, as long as you keep yourself busy, there may not be time for you to consider home and the things you miss about it.

3) Keep healthy – although it is pretty much a requirement as a student to have a diet that does not necessarily include all the food groups (particularly of the green, vegetable variety), it has been proven that keeping a balanced, healthy diet and sleeping well helps with homesickness as this puts you in a positive mood.