Moving to College: Dealing with Homesickness

[Mirero]

Didn't even leave home yet and already feeling homesick.

Well tomorrow is going to be a fun day for me isn't it .__.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Every freshman feels homesick and nervous. The most important thing is to meet people and get involved in clubs early. In a few weeks you'll be loving your new independence and social network.

 

[gfd43tg]

I had homesickness my first semester too. It fixed itself and second semester I did fine. It is very normal

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Good luck! Man I remember when I went to university, I was terrified and excited all at once. And I did miss home, even though I was having an amazing time. My advice would be to throw yourself into it; meet people, go to parties, go to the fairs, get a bunch of free stuff and sign up for societies you'll later never bother with. Also set a date (doesn't have to be in stone) for when you're going to go home for a visit. It was easy for me because home was just a 2.5 hour train ride but if you can I found it helped with homesickness to think "Ok the weekend of my third week I'll go home for a visit"

 

[Choppy]

Everyone else will be in the same boat. As others have said it really helps to make an effort to get involved in some kind of activity. This is how you make friends. Personally I found it important to be involved in at least one thing that had nothing to do with my major - it was just something that I wanted to do.

Take good care of yourself. Eat well. Get good sleep. Exercise. Practice kindness. Take time to explore things you're interested in, not just stuff that you feel you "have" to do. Try to stay excited about your classes and they opportunities you'll have.

And remember that home will be there when you need it.

 

[Mirero]

Home from college for labor day weekend, college wasn't as bad as I thought it would be ^^

I'm still sort of sticking with my group of close high school friends, but I'm beginning to become friendly with my suitemates as well. Playing Mortal Kombat and League together can do that I guess. I only joined two clubs so far, LGBT and Kumdo, but I'm hoping to branch out eventually as well. I would have joined this Putnam group as well, but I'm still scarred from high school math contests so meh.

All in all, you guys were right. Looking forward to my next four years so far

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Very glad to hear that :)

 

[DiracPool]

Every freshman feels homesick

(Discalimer: Don't (necessarily) do what I did).

I didn't feel homesick at all, I couldn't wait to get out of home. I did feel nervous, though. It was 1985, UC Santa Barbara. At that time it was dubbed one of the top 5 party schools in the USA by playboy magazine. My dad (who was a 60's hippie and alumni of UCSB) strongly recommended to me to take the lightest load possible the first quarter (or two) to ease myself in. So that's what I did. I took 3 classes, English 1 (not the remedial English), Psych 1, and Sociology 1. That's about the minimum I could take and still be enrolled and get my grants and scholarships (because I did well in HS). Next quarter I took about the equivalent of "cruise" classes and basically partied, surfed, and played volleyball all day. They used to have these big sand lot volleyball courts outside each of the dorms and the campus was on one of best surf breaks in southern California.

My dorm-mate my first 2 quarters of freshman year was also a surfer from the Bay area. However, unlike me, the first quarter he took English 1 like me, but he also was taking Calculus, Physics for calculus majors, organic chemistry, and a computer programming class. Something like 20-24 units or something. He didn't get a lot of partying or surfing in and it created a tension between us so I had to find another room-mate for the third quarter of my freshman year. So this is a choice you have to make. When I look back on it, I can't believe how cavalier I was about my choices and how they may have affected me negatively later on or down the road. But at the time they seemed 100% legitimate.

Back to the homesickness. I remember that really being an issue that freshman year. Not in the way you'd think. It really bothered me when my dorm-mates would talk about homesickness or going home to visit friends or especially whining about how they missed their HS girlfriends, etc. I really loved my college experienced and felt like it was home. I never wanted to go back home, even during the breaks. In fact, they would kick us out of the dorms even over the 4 day Thanksgiving break and I didn't go home, just found a place to stay locally.

 

[Astronuc]

I didn't feel homesick at all, I couldn't wait to get out of home.

That was much my experience. I wanted to get out on my own and experience the world, which is pretty much what I did.