Is it common to feel intense loneliness a few months into studying in Australia and how do people cope?

Feeling intensely lonely a few months into your course in Australia is far more common than you might think, and it does not mean you are failing at this. Roughly two thirds of international students describe this exact phase, usually once the initial excitement wears off and coursework and distance from home both start to bite.

Why This Phase Hits So Hard

How You Can Cope, Step by Step

• Break the loop first: study in the library or a cafe instead of your room, and keep a strict routine with fixed wake times, exercise, and scheduled calls home.
• Take a casual job in hospitality or retail, since it forces regular human contact and builds your conversational confidence fast.
• Build your network deliberately by joining specific hobby or sports clubs through your student union, volunteering at campus events, or trying a friendship app like Bumble BFF.
• Use your university's free, confidential counselling service and its international student support hub, which runs mixers and day trips built exactly for this stage.

My Advice

Book one counselling session in your first month, even if you feel fine, so the service already knows you if things get harder later. Pick one club and one casual shift in your first six weeks rather than trying everything at once, since a couple of repeatable, low pressure touchpoints build friendships far faster than one big push at orientation.