Homesickness and a New Type of Independence During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 has been a year of ups and downs, to say the least. As an international student, I feel like the COVID-19 pandemic situation has put me at a disadvantage. During such turbulent times, I’ve been living away from home – Singapore – and my family. I’ve somehow been getting through all the panic and stress of remote living while living in Melbourne with my three close friends. My feelings of homesickness have been higher than ever since the pandemic started back in March. I’ve been yearning for the comfort and normalcy of home. Quarantine hasn’t made it easier as I’ve been confined to my home for months on end. However, I feel like I will emerge from this situation as a more rational and independent person because I haven’t been at home during the pandemic.

I’ve been dealing with homesickness since I started university in February 2018. Like many other international students, I started living independently at the fresh age of 18. It was my first time living away from my family, in a totally new country and environment. I was more excited than nervous for this next stage in my life. I was excited to start adulting – opening a bank account, doing laundry, doing all the household chores, cooking, and the list goes on. But I hadn’t considered how much I would miss home because my head had been full of college, new friends, and a new lifestyle. I didn’t realize how much I took my family for granted once I started living alone. We’re so comfortable at home that we never take a step back to reflect and think about this. Bouts of homesickness would hit at the most random times, where I would just stop and think about being at home. It did get better over the months, and I returned home during the holidays, but my feelings of homesickness worsened once the pandemic hit.

The pandemic was already starting to become a huge, global issue once I returned to Melbourne for my last year of university in February this year. I wanted to return as soon as possible before things would get worse. Finishing my degree was my biggest priority – my parents spent so much so I could receive a good education overseas, and I wasn’t going to waste that money. I arrived back in Melbourne with no qualms, and everything was normal for the first month. At the end of March, cases around the world were spiking, and Australia was no exception. Quarantine started, and we suddenly went from going out every day to not leaving the house at all. Shortly before this, panic-buying blew up around the country and many essentials like toilet paper were sold out. I joined in on the panic-buying to ensure that I had enough essentials to survive by myself and stocked up, especially on frozen food.

All the bad news in the media was really stressing me out, and the fact that the shelves in supermarkets were empty did not help the situation. I felt myself yearning for the comfort of home, where I didn’t have to worry about stocking up. My parents called me more frequently than usual to make sure that I was staying safe and that I had enough food to eat. Whenever I worried and panicked, they always assured me that everything would be okay. Furthermore, many of my friends, who were international students, flew home as soon as quarantine was announced. They often posted about being with their family on social media, which only worsened my homesickness. I was also tempted to just fly back to return to the comfort of home, but I wanted to spend my last year of university with my roommates because I would be permanently leaving Australia after I graduate. There were a lot of factors to consider – ultimately, I decided to remain in Australia so that I could focus on my studies and enjoy quarantine with my roommates.

I feel like this pandemic has enabled me to become a more independent and mature person. I can plan and budget more efficiently for tough situations now. I’ve learned to deal with homesickness by distracting myself with schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and good movies and series to binge. Luckily, thanks to technology, there are so many ways to stay in touch with family and friends. Years from now, I’ll look back and applaud myself for surviving a global pandemic on my own.