PENGALAMAN KOMUNIKASI MAHASISWA RANTAU DALAM MENGELOLA HOMESICKNESS SELAMA MERANTAU

Abstract

Today's modern world encourages people to move for specific purposes. Overseas students move for the purpose of obtaining quality higher education. However, the move actually makes students experience homesickness. Although displacement makes overseas students experience homesickness. Society views homesickness as a form of immaturity, so the experience is taboo to talk about. However, in fact, homesickness can interfere with a person's well-being. This study aims to understand the communication process of overseas students to manage homesickness experienced during migration. This research is a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach, using in-depth interviews with four overseas students of Diponegoro University who came from outside Java as informants to collect data, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to process the data. The results of this study indicate that the communication carried out by overseas students to manage homesickness stems from feeling and interpreting homesickness experienced at the beginning of migrating, namely as a painful feeling of deep longing for home and the original environment, because they feel negative emotions and impacts due to loss, conflict of desires, adaptation difficulties, changes in roles and duties, and disruption of routines after the move. Through initial meaning, overseas students are moved to communicate with story friends to release emotional burdens as catharsis. There are overseas students who tell stories directly and some tell stories indirectly. Although the coordination carried out by each overseas student is different, catharsis still makes them get support from story friends. Communication is interpreted by overseas students as providing relief, but not all feel the relief of homesickness. In addition, overseas students realize their purpose of migrating again. Furthermore, the meaning of overseas students' communication with story friends encourages them to adapt again as a form of problem- focused coping. In the end, the communication carried out by overseas students builds a new meaning of homesickness, namely as a feeling of ordinary longing that provides opportunities to grow and develop in a new environment.