{"id":365,"date":"2026-05-21T12:15:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/?p=365"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:15:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:15:49","slug":"from-homesickness-to-belonging-the-emotional-journey-of-studying-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/from-homesickness-to-belonging-the-emotional-journey-of-studying-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"From homesickness to belonging: the emotional journey of studying abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Ariana Ten\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Lefke, many international students sit in their dorm rooms in the evenings,&nbsp; looking through old photos of home, reminiscing about their parents&#8217; hugs and&nbsp; the delicious smell of home-cooked meals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For many international students, studying abroad begins as a dream &#8211; a new&nbsp; country, new opportunities and a fresh start. But behind the excitement, there is&nbsp; often a quieter, more personal story: the journey from homesickness to&nbsp; belonging.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arriving in a place like Lefke can feel overwhelming at first. The streets are&nbsp; unfamiliar, the language may be different and everything feels new. For many&nbsp; students at Lefke European University , the first weeks are the hardest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remember feeling completely alone,\u201d said Hana Bouhtit 3rd course faculty of&nbsp; tourism and hotel management . \u201cEven though there were people around me, I&nbsp; missed my home, my family and everything that felt familiar.\u201d said Artur&nbsp; Artemyev 3rd course faculty of business and administration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Homesickness is something almost every international student experiences. It&nbsp; can bring feelings of sadness, isolation and even anxiety. For some, it affects their&nbsp; motivation and daily life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, over time, things begin to change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friendships slowly form &#8211; in classrooms, dormitories and shared experiences.&nbsp; Small routines become comforting. Familiar faces start to replace the feeling of&nbsp; being lost.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Going home during holidays helps students recharge emotionally, making it&nbsp; easier to return with a fresh perspective.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, what once felt foreign begins to feel familiar. Lefke becomes more&nbsp; than just a place of study &#8211; it becomes a second home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Studying abroad is not only about education. It is a journey of emotional growth,&nbsp; resilience, and self-discovery. And for many students, it is this journey that&nbsp; shapes who they become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ariana Ten\u00a0 In Lefke, many international students sit in their dorm rooms in the evenings,&nbsp; looking through old photos of home, reminiscing about their parents&#8217; hugs and&nbsp; the delicious&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-life-student-life","category-international"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eulspotlight.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}