Home, familiar place

Another important finding in relation to international students studying abroad is that homesickness and nostalgia is near the top of the list of their feelings of complaints from being away from their homes (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.43).

Nostalgia is defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary (2005) as; a sentimental yearning or longing for bygone days. And characterized by ruminative thoughts about the home and the desire to go back to the familiar environment. Scientifically, the condition was first described by Hofer (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.35) in Basel in 1685. Meanwhile, religiously nostalgia has been historically referenced in the Bible at Psalm 13 7: "By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yeah wept when we remembered Zion" (ibid).

On the other hand, Homesickness, is defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary (2007) as; the sadness that arrives from being away from home. Where the notion of home is not simply a shelter but the place that you were born and grew, where your memories are stored emotionally, there are people who you spend your life together and are replaceable or exchangeable (Kron 2007, p.55).

Psychologists Dijkstra and Hendrix (1983) define homesickness as; a human state of being, characterized by a depressed mood, physical complains and a ruminative thinking about the familiar environment and/or familiar people.

One factor that contributes to the amount of homesickness experienced by people is the amount of geographical distance from home they have travelled (Fisher 1990, p.56) The greater the distance involved, the worse the homesickness effects were found to be (ibid).

Other physical and psychological ramifications of homesickness and nostalgia include a complex reaction with characteristic accompanying emotional, somatic, and behavioral elements and cognitions which show obsessive thoughts, rumination, idealization, stomach troubles, lack of appetite, and sleeplessness (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.105).

The idea of nostalgic feelings can prove to be a design opportunity as current means of long distant communication devices do not address this emotional connection to distant people and places. This new design could also address the geographical distance between people and their old homes in an aim to psychologically create a sense of linkage between the two.