How I Handled Homesickness After Leaving India

 

How I Handled Homesickness After Moving Abroad at 13

When people talk about moving to a new country, they usually focus on the exciting parts — better opportunities, a fresh start, new experiences.
But the thing no one really explains is homesickness after moving abroad.

It sneaks up in the quiet moments — during lunch at school, on the bus ride home, or in the evenings when everything feels unfamiliar.
That’s exactly what happened to me.

I moved from India to the U.S. in 2013 at age 13.
No phone.
No friends.
No social media.
Just a school uniform packed in a suitcase and a childhood suddenly left behind.

Homesickness after leaving India hit me harder than I expected. The emotional challenges of moving abroad aren’t loud — they’re soft, slow, and heavy. Here’s the real story of how I unknowingly learned how to deal with homesickness abroad, one small step at a time.

What Homesickness Feels Like at 13

In my first week of school, lunchtime felt like the loneliest part of the day.

No familiar faces.
No Gujarati or Hindi.
No noisy cafeteria energy like India.
Just a cold room where everyone already belonged somewhere — except me.

I didn’t want to sit alone, didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to be seen.
I remember telling myself:
“If I could just skip cafeteria, I would.”

The emotional challenges of moving abroad feel even heavier when you’re young, shy, and suddenly surrounded by a completely different culture.

1. I Let the Feelings Come Instead of Fighting Them

Some days I felt angry.
Some days quiet.
Some days I cried for reasons I couldn’t explain.

Homesickness after moving abroad isn’t something you can “logic” your way out of. You can only feel it. And once I stopped fighting it, the sadness slowly softened.

Letting the emotions come was the first real step toward healing.

2. The Public Library Became My Lifeline

Before I had my first laptop, the library was the only place that felt like a bridge to India.

There, I watched Bollywood songs, checked cricket updates, searched for Indian movies, and looked at news headlines from home.
It gave me something familiar during a time when everything else felt different.

My uncle had also given me two Bollywood DVDs before I moved. I rewatched them so many times they practically became comfort food.

These little rituals taught me how to deal with homesickness abroad without even realizing it.

3. I Daydreamed About India When I Didn’t Have Words

I wasn’t the diary-writing type.
I didn’t sketch, didn’t talk much, didn’t open up.

But in my head?
I was in India all the time.

I’d replay scenes — walking to school, meeting friends, playing cricket, hearing neighbors chat, watching festivals from the balcony.

Daydreaming became a safe escape when real life felt too unfamiliar.

4. I Held on to Small Things Like They Were Gold

I kept a single Indian rupee note in my wallet for years.
Not because it was valuable — but because it was home.

I kept my old school report card too.
Seeing Hindi text and familiar stamps reminded me who I was before America.

These little pieces of India helped me stay emotionally grounded.

5. Going to Indian Stores Helped Bring Back a Sense of Normal

When my family visited Indian grocery stores, it felt like a temporary return home.

The smell of masalas.
Parle-G packets.
Aloo bhujia.
Shiny steel plates stacked on the shelf.

Even if we didn’t buy much, just walking through the aisles helped ease our homesickness after leaving India.
It reminded me that not everything had changed — some parts of India still existed here.