Still, even in the midst of diversity, you may find yourself in between bouts of loneliness--of longing to go home and "come home to mama." If you're not that tough, you might be taking the next trip home. But before you kiss your dreams goodbye, here are some tips you may want to consider to help you fight homesickness:

• Keep yourself busy.
Read a book. Learn a new hobby. Watch a movie. Or exert extra efforts in your academics. The important thing is to keep your mind thinking of something other than your hometown. If you're busy, you don't have to think of yourself but of the things that you have to do. As long as they're positive (you wouldn't want to get into drugs, would you?), these activities can actually help you develop yourself by learning new things. Killing time should not be a problem. Soon, you may even find yourself begging for more time than you have just to meet class requirements.
• Join organizations and make new friends.
The best thing about being in U.P. is meeting people of diverse backgrounds and personalities, which make dealing with them interesting. Joining an organization is just one way of making friends. If you're jolly enough, you may start getting to know your seatmates or classmates. A small talk about your professor or a smile won't hurt. Chances are, they're more likely as eager to meet new friends as you are. At least with friends around, you talk about different things and you don't have to be the center of your world. Someone else might be...
• Condition your mind to think of returning to your hometown as a reward after months of hard work.
If you're set to go home every sembreak or summer, take that as a reward for yourself at the end of months of hard work. What better way to motivate yourself than to see you're nearing the end of your sleepless nights and your free days are here again. Just make sure you don't rush things up, lest you might get yourself into trouble with your classcards. Patience, perseverance, persistence. Everything will pay off in the end.
• Explore your new community and learn to appreciate it.
Take time to enjoy the community you're in. Take a walk one afternoon and see which places you can go to in your free time or what stores offer which goods so you know where to go if you need anything. If you're staying within the campus, try jogging in the academic oval. That way, you shed off those extra pounds and tone those muscles. Open your eyes to a wonderful place you're now in (yeah, you may also imagine if there's an urgent need) so you don't get stuck in the place you left behind.
• Think as if you were at home; feel at home.
Perhaps one of the most effective ways of fighting homesickness is to take your home with you so you won't have to miss it (I'm not suggesting transferring residences). Condition yourself to feel that you are at home; make the place you're in your home. Accept the fact that where you are now is where you go home to for the most time of the year, so you better make it a comfortable abode. Cleaning your room is a good idea: you keep yourself busy, you make your place worth going home to, and you burn extra calories.
• Think of your dreams and ambition, and make them your motivation.
If you're the type who dreams big, use your goal as your drive to keep on going, even if you're feeling down. Go beyond your day-to-day situation and think long-term: Why am I doing this? Why am I leaving home? That way, you push yourself to the limit to be the best that you can be and not allow homesickness to stand in the way. Just be sure you don't push harder than what you can handle or else you might "miss out on life in general" as Miriam [Defensor-Santiago] said in an interview (She, too, was from a province, who buried herself with work as editor in the Collegian, as Corps Sponsor, and as a member of other organizations in her stay in U.P.). Now you know the danger of overworking...beware.

In the end, all it takes to fight homesickness is to think less about it. There are so many things you can do to divert your attention, so instead of sulking in your bed while you think of the people, the place and the personal stories of home, be an active member of your new community. Who knows, you might even feel more at home in U.P. and help others fight homesickness, too.