Published on and written by Cyril Jarnias
Leaving your comfort zone to live or study in Bangladesh, or conversely returning to Bangladesh after years abroad, almost always triggers an emotional shock. Between 20% and 90% of expats report feeling homesick during their first year, and up to 70% of people who move far from home face it at some point. It is neither a weakness nor a shameful illness: it is a normal psychological reaction to the loss of familiar bearings, routines, and connections.
Bangladesh is described as an intense, noisy, and culturally dense country, capable of causing systemic shock upon arrival. For those who leave it, it becomes an object of deep nostalgia, linked to sensory and family memories. In both cases, homesickness arises from a feeling of displacement and uprooting from one’s world of origin.
This article offers concrete ways to manage homesickness in Bangladesh, whether you are a foreigner settled in Dhaka, an international student at a Bangladeshi university, a member of the diaspora returning for an extended stay, or a Bangladeshi coming back after years in London, Toronto, or Stockholm. The advice draws on research into nostalgia, acculturation, and migrant mental health, but also on very practical aspects of daily life.
Understanding homesickness in the Bangladeshi context
Homesickness is defined by researchers as an emotional response to separation from familiar people, places, and routines. It is not a recognized psychiatric disorder in itself, but it is closely linked to anxiety and depression, especially when it lasts or worsens.
In Bangladesh, several factors can fuel it. The country is one of the most densely populated in the world, with over 1,100 people per km² and a megacity, Dhaka, exceeding 15 million residents. The arrival can therefore be brutal: constant traffic jams, rickshaws, horns, crowds, humid heat, power cuts, bureaucracy, slow transportation—all of this uproots one’s bearings, even for people accustomed to big cities.
Bangladeshi expats returning to the country after a long absence often experience a second culture shock. They keep an idealized and nostalgic image of their homeland, but upon return, discover a real, complex, noisy, and unpredictable Bangladesh that no longer matches their memories. This disconnect is particularly pronounced during extended stays of several weeks or months.
Researchers often describe an “adaptation curve”: an initial period of euphoria or curiosity, then a phase of doubt, sadness, even isolation, before a more stable phase where one manages to find one’s footing. Knowing that this journey is normal and widely shared is a first antidote to guilt.
Common symptoms: from passing blues to a real warning sign
The work of Fisher, Van Tilburg and others identifies several types of symptoms related to homesickness. Many people settled in Bangladesh recognize them, whether they come from Europe, America, Asia, or rural areas of the country who have moved to Dhaka to study.
Homesickness manifests through psychological symptoms (persistent sadness, anxiety, loneliness, lack of motivation) and cognitive symptoms (intrusive thoughts and idealization of the home country, difficulty concentrating). This disconnect can impact professional or academic life.
Researchers also describe physical symptoms: fatigue, sleep disturbances, headaches or stomachaches, weight loss or gain. Some become irritable, uncooperative, even aggressive in professional interactions: studies in human resource management have shown that homesickness can lead to errors, delays in tasks, and performance drops.
When these signs persist over time, the risk is sliding into a depressive episode, with a sense of hopelessness, of being “trapped” or worthless. The line is sometimes thin. Hence the importance of acting early, even if you tell yourself “it will pass.”
Culture, identity, and “dual belonging” in Bangladesh
To understand why homesickness is so strong, we need to look at what constitutes cultural identity in Bangladesh. Language, religious practices, festivals, tight family bonds, food—all of this creates a very dense identity fabric.
For Bangladeshis, Bengali is not just a communication tool; it is a cornerstone of identity. This attachment gave birth to International Mother Language Day. The familiar cultural universe also includes major festivals (Pohela Boishakh, Eid, Durga Puja), traditional clothing like the saree or panjabi, as well as Tagore’s literature and music.
Bangladeshi cultural identity
When you arrive in Bangladesh without these codes, or return after years away from this cultural bath, you find yourself, for a time, in a kind of in-between. Researchers speak of “acculturation” and “bicultural identity“: it is not about choosing one culture over another, but about building a hybrid identity capable of navigating between several value systems, languages, and symbols.
This dual belonging can become a source of strength—one study shows that among immigrants, Bangladeshi identity can strengthen, sometimes more than among people who stayed in the country. But in the early days, this tension fuels the feeling of being “between two worlds,” thus particularly vulnerable to homesickness.
Settling in Bangladesh: taming the environment to ease nostalgia
Faced with this vertigo, research converges on one idea: the best strategy is neither escape (immersing oneself only in one’s home country via the internet) nor radical cut-off, but a combination of concrete actions to tame the present.
Personalizing your living space is a simple but effective step. Psychologists stress the need to recreate a “cocoon,” especially in a country as sensorially stimulating as Bangladesh. Hanging photos of dear people and places, bringing a blanket, a favorite mug, a scarf or rug, a few reference books, a small symbolic object, even a plant, helps reconstruct these bearings. Some travelers mention, for example, the usefulness of a small lamp or nightlight, a good pillow, a familiar scent diffuser to transform a guest room in Dhaka or Chittagong into a reassuring place.
In a context where food is a strong identity marker, diet is a powerful lever against the feeling of foreignness. Studies on international students reveal that difficulty finding familiar foods heightens this feeling. Conversely, cooking or rediscovering typical dishes, whether from the home country or the host country, serves as an emotional anchor and eases nostalgia, which often passes through taste.
Bangladesh has the advantage of offering both an incredibly rich local cuisine and increasingly international options in big cities. For a Western or Middle Eastern expat settled in Dhaka, making the effort to taste a bhuna khichuri on a rainy day, a hot jilapi during Ramadan, or a seven-layer tea when passing through Sylhet, while occasionally preparing a “home” dish, builds a bridge between the two worlds.
Research shows that during acculturation, values and daily practices—like cooking, sharing a meal, or celebrating a holiday—resist change more than language or symbols. These familiar rituals act as powerful tools to soothe homesickness because they touch the core of cultural identity.
Example of mini-strategies around food
Although each journey is unique, similar patterns appear in expat stories. At first, out of fear or weariness, some retreat to international chains, fast food, or conversely don’t dare to eat local. Gradually, when they start visiting markets, talking to vegetable vendors, learning how to prepare rice closer to what they like or a milder curry, the table becomes a field of exploration rather than a constant reminder of lack.
Similarly, a Bangladeshi temporarily back from Europe can soothe their own reverse homesickness (nostalgia for life abroad) by alternating a “pure Bangla” day—panta bhat, shorshe ilish, bhorta—with a day where they cook a dish learned in London or Berlin, sharing that recipe with family. This reconciles the two parts of their identity rather than opposing them.
Relying on technology without becoming its prisoner
In the Bangladeshi context, technology plays a crucial role. Studies on migrants show that video calls, social media, instant messaging are experienced as a true emotional “lifeline.” Research among Bangladeshi students abroad confirms that videoconferencing is perceived as more comforting than simple text messages: seeing loved ones’ faces, hearing them in their environment, reduces the feeling of rupture.
A large study in Hong Kong also showed that sharing information related to family life (emotions, stress management, daily life) with loved ones, whether face-to-face or via video, was associated with better family well-being. The combination of “physical meetings + video” was even the most beneficial on indices of health, happiness, and harmony.
How Bangladeshis use digital tools to maintain strong family ties across continents.
Bangladeshis have widely adopted the concept of a “digital extended family,” especially between parents in the country and children in Europe, the Gulf, or North America.
Apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, IMO, Skype, or FaceTime enable regular, often daily calls.
Exchanges take place in a “polymedia environment,” juggling calls, messages, photos, and dedicated family groups.
But the same literature also highlights a possible boomerang effect. Testimonials mention students who, through endless daily calls with their parents, saw their homesickness worsen, with incessant dreams of returning, and an inability to anchor themselves in their new environment. Social media can also reinforce the feeling of disconnect by showing loved ones who seem to “continue their life without you” or other expats displaying brilliant success abroad, fueling unfavorable comparisons.
To maintain the connection without burning out, schedule regular calls (e.g., three times a week) rather than multiplying impromptu conversations. Vary the formats: brief messages, photo sharing, and longer video calls at fixed times. This helps preserve time and energy for life on the ground.
Communication and well-being: what the numbers say
To measure the concrete effect of different communication modes on well-being, we can draw on a large survey conducted in Hong Kong, the results of which are transferable to the situation of millions of families split between Bangladesh and abroad.
| Mode of sharing with family | Proportion of users (Hong Kong sample) | Associated effect on family well-being |
|---|---|---|
| Face-to-face meeting | ~74% | Significant positive association |
| Video calls | ~6% | Positive association, especially health and happiness |
| Phone (audio) | ~28% | Positive but lesser association |
| Instant messaging | ~41% | Positive effect not always significant |
| Social media | ~12% | Limited positive effect |
| ~5% | Weak positive effect |
Even though the context is not specific to Bangladesh, it illustrates an important trend: emotionally rich exchanges (face-to-face, video) have more impact on the feeling of closeness than superficial interactions on social media. For someone based in Dhaka, Sylhet, or Chittagong, prioritizing regular, quality video calls rather than passive, continuous consumption of Facebook or Instagram feeds is often more soothing.
Building a new community in Bangladesh
All research on homesickness converges on the same idea: social isolation is one of the main risk factors, while building a network—even a modest one—is one of the best protectors. This finding holds for Bangladeshi students abroad, for Bangladeshis in the Middle East, but also for foreigners in Bangladesh.
Studies on immigrant communities show how participation in associations, mosques, neighborhood groups, or online networks can transform an experience of loneliness into a path of gradual integration. In the Bangladeshi diaspora, we find structures like FOBANA in North America, Facebook groups like “American Bangladeshi Community Help,” NGOs specialized in supporting families facing disabilities, or initiatives like BDPKS, which blend legal support, educational mutual aid, cultural integration, and mental health.
To create authentic connections in Bangladesh, it is recommended to join a club, student association, cultural center, or language group. These structures, such as student support offices, specialty clubs, and intercultural events organized by universities, offer foreigners an ideal entry point to develop friendships that go beyond the purely utilitarian.
Research also shows that ties with compatriots alone are not enough. Limiting oneself to an expat bubble or a diaspora can provide immediate security but delays integration. Works on acculturation encourage a “both/and” approach rather than “either/or”: spending time with both Bangladeshis, foreigners, people from one’s own country, and people from completely different backgrounds.
Creating your bearings: the power of local routines
Creating routines is another key well documented in psychological literature. Simply having a café where you have tea every morning, a fruit vendor you meet at the same corner, a bookstore, a park, a mosque or temple you visit regularly, gradually transforms the scenery into a familiar environment.
To create social routines, several authors recommend regular activities like walking daily, doing your weekly market shopping, or attending a fixed-day sports class. In Bangladesh, this could mean joining a hiking or photography club, signing up for a Bengali course, joining a network of volunteers for social actions, or participating in a book club dedicated to Bengali or international literature.
Research shows that a regular physical exercise program—for example, 30 minutes, five times a week—combined with a balanced diet, significantly reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression. Since homesickness is strongly correlated with these two dimensions, taking care of your body is far from trivial. Even in a congested city like Dhaka, choosing a park, a campus, a riverbank, or even a rooftop setup for walking or running becomes a mental health strategy as much as a physical one.
Keeping the connection with “home” without cutting yourself off from “here”
A tricky question often arises in studies: how much time should be spent communicating with loved ones back home for it to be helpful, and when does it become a hindrance to adaptation? There is no magic number, but we know that over-connection can trap you in the past. One testimony, for example, mentions daily calls of several hours that left the student drained, full of doubts about their decision to leave, and fueling thoughts of returning.
Researchers distinguish two types of coping strategies: problem-focused (acting concretely on the situation) and emotion-focused (managing one’s feelings). For example, staying glued to the phone to vent falls into the second category. Although useful for releasing emotions, this approach remains insufficient if nothing changes in daily life.
A pragmatic option is to define a “contract” with your loved ones: set regular call slots, share photos and logbooks to give updates, while explaining that you need offline time to build your life where you are. This sometimes requires reassuring a worried family in Bangladesh, or conversely abroad, who interprets fewer calls as a loss of affection. But research on the adjustment of students abroad shows that those who manage to regulate the frequency of contacts, rather than responding to every message instantly, adapt more quickly.
Keeping a journal, paper or digital, to note impressions, difficulties, discoveries, moments of joy, and language progress helps create a link between your old and new life. Over time, re-reading these pages shows the progress made, strengthens the sense of competence, and acts as a powerful antidote to homesickness.
Taking care of your mental health: when and how to seek help
Homesickness is not a medical diagnosis, but it can turn into a genuine anxiety or depressive disorder if not taken seriously. Research among international students shows that over 40% of them present symptoms of anxiety or depression, and that the stigma around mental health—particularly strong in some Asian cultures, including Bangladeshi culture—prevents many from seeking help.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness techniques, and narrative therapies are effective approaches. They help reframe catastrophic thoughts, identify vicious cycles like isolation, restore meaning to the migratory experience, and build concrete strategies.
In the Bangladeshi context, you also need to consider actually accessible resources: some expats or students can turn to local English-speaking psychologists, university counseling services, or online therapy platforms that offer practitioners accustomed to working with migrants. International directories list several hundred therapists speaking various languages and working online, which can be valuable when you feel stuck between multiple cultures.
In the diaspora, NGOs founded by Bangladeshis, such as those specialized in supporting families with an autistic child, illustrate how a personal experience of distress (loneliness, misunderstanding, homesickness) can transform into collective engagement and become a source of support for others. These structures are part of community networks—also including mosques, cultural centers, and neighborhood associations—that serve as first-line support.
In Bangladesh as elsewhere, the rule should be the same: if sadness, anxiety, social withdrawal, sleep or appetite disturbances persist for several weeks despite efforts, or if you start having dark thoughts, it is time to consult. Studies emphasize an important point: seeking help early allows for faster resolution and more positive adaptation.
Staying connected to your Bangladeshi roots… even when homesickness targets Bangladesh
We must not forget a particular configuration: that of Bangladeshis living abroad who, paradoxically, suffer from homesickness… for Bangladesh. Research on the diaspora is rich on this topic. It is estimated that 10–15 million Bangladeshis live outside the country. They maintain very strong ties to their homeland: remittances (nearly $24 billion in a recent fiscal year), real estate or entrepreneurial investment, philanthropy, support for schools or hospitals, political engagement (including calls to boycott remittances to influence the domestic situation).
For Bangladeshis living abroad, homesickness manifests as a longing for the language, traditional food (like biryani or mishti doi), festivals, and loved ones left behind. Their strategies to cope include preparing typical dishes, celebrating events like Pohela Boishakh or Eid within the expat community, passing on the Bengali language to children, and active participation in Bangladeshi cultural or religious associations.
One study showed that for some migrants, Bangladeshi identity strengthens abroad, even more than for those living in Bangladesh. This aligns with the concept of Bicultural Identity Integration: some manage to harmonize the two worlds, others keep them separate, which can make returning to the country, even temporarily, particularly destabilizing.
It is normal to feel a sense of nostalgia for your host country after returning to Bangladesh. Rather than choosing between the two countries, it is advisable to gradually integrate both experiences. Sharing with your Bangladeshi family the dishes, customs, and ways of life discovered abroad can help prevent a feeling of division.
Integrating the dimension of safety, politics, and on-the-ground reality
Managing homesickness in Bangladesh also involves accepting the reality of the local context, which can add a layer of worry. Authorities in several countries, like the United States, call for caution due to risks related to political instability, certain violent groups, and crime in specific areas, such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. “Hartals” (general strikes) can paralyze part of activities, demonstrations can turn violent, and administrative restrictions exist for traveling to certain regions.
Travel restrictions and warnings against certain areas, common in countries experiencing instability, can generate a feeling of foreignness for people coming from countries perceived as more stable. Conversely, for individuals who grew up in such a context, living in a highly regulated environment abroad can cause homesickness.
Recommendations from migration researchers are pragmatic: stay regularly informed via reliable sources, register with your embassy’s alert systems, have solid travel insurance, plan an emergency evacuation if you are passing through or newly arrived, avoid obvious tension spots. Feeling prepared and responsible reduces diffuse fear, thus part of the anxiety that mixes with homesickness.
When Bangladesh becomes “home”: the long term
Studies on expat trajectories and migrants show that for many, balance eventually comes. Those who achieve a high level of “bicultural integration” often describe Bangladesh no longer simply as a place of assignment or birth, but as one of their “homes.” They effortlessly alternate between several languages, several social codes, several cuisines. They celebrate both local festivals and others from elsewhere, raise their children in a multilingual environment, and feel legitimate in both worlds.
According to researchers, the easing of homesickness and the feeling of being a permanent foreigner do not result from a single click, but from a series of repeated micro-choices. These small openings include, for example, gradually learning a local language (like Bengali), participating in local social events (a wedding), developing genuine friendships with colleagues outside of work, accepting invitations into local homes (for tea), striking up conversations with locals (like a rickshaw driver), and taking an interest in the country’s culture and history by reading local authors.
Similarly, for diaspora members who have lived outside Bangladesh for a long time, conscious connections—regular travels, participation in educational or humanitarian projects, engagement in transnational professional networks—allow transforming sometimes painful nostalgia into active attachment.
As a guiding thread: transforming nostalgia into a resource
Homesickness, in Bangladesh as elsewhere, is often seen as an enemy to defeat, an obstacle to integration or academic and professional success. Research suggests another way to look at it: as a sign that the bonds, places, and routines left behind truly mattered. It is precisely this depth of attachment that, once tamed, gives a particular richness of perspective, capacity for empathy, and creativity.
To adapt to Bangladesh, you must accept its complexity: human density, river landscapes, intense cultural and spiritual life, and a changing youth. The recommended approach combines concrete tools (establishing routines, managing diet and communication, seeking support) with an inner posture of curiosity. This attitude allows you to transform homesickness into an opportunity to broaden your identity, rather than suffering it as mere pain.
Navigating between these worlds takes time, patience, and sometimes outside help. But research and experience show that this in-between, once stabilized, can become a fertile space: that of a person capable of truly feeling “at home” in more than one place at once—including in Bangladesh.
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Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.
On his website, cyriljarnias.com, he shares his expertise on international real estate, offshore company formation, and expatriation.
Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.
