Homesickness

[Bananagator]

Hey everyone,

So this is a problem I've faced every year that I've been in college. I'm now a junior and I STILL feel homesick nearly all the time. Things definitely aren't as bad as they were freshman year but I constantly feel like crying because I just want to go home.

I was controlling it well until yesterday. I was texting my dad and then I realized that I hadn't actually talked to him since I got here. I'm very close to my family but I haven't been able to talk to my parents a lot recently because we've had some curve balls thrown our way and they've been busy dealing with those.

I'm only about 2 hours away so I could realistically go home whenever but I went home over labor day, and I feel like I need to work on establishing a life here. I have a couple of college friends but not nearly as many as a person "should have" at this point. Plus my friends I do have might think I'm weird for going home all the time :/

Anyway, my question is does anyone else ever feel homesick? Whether you're a freshman, senior, whatever. How do you cope with it?

 

[keith99]

Figure out your interests. Find a campus club or 2 that fits those interests.

Generally people don't make friends by trying to make friends, they make friends by doing things and finding people with common interests. In time that grows into friendship.

Oh and don't feel strange because you go home a lot, feel lucky that home is a good place to return to. Many will not understand you on that because they were glad to escape what they called home.

 

[Bananagator]

Yeah, joining a club or two is probably a good idea. The past couple years I've sort of joined a few but I just wasn't interested enough in them so those fizzled out hahaha. It's been trial and error so far, so in continuing that method I'll very likely find one - eventually

I guess you're right about the whole going home thing. I always feel kind of weird when I hear people talking about how happy they are to be away from home. But in reality, wanting to go home and visit is something to be thankful for.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Angeldove97]

My homesickness was pretty bad as a freshman- I remember begging my Mom to have my Dad come get me the first couple of weeks (she told me to stick with it and if by a certain date I was still missing them they would come get me for the weekend)- and it got less and less as time went on. What really helped me is that I got closer to my college friends- if I could do things with them, I wouldn't be missing my family so much.

My best semester (the one where I was the happiest and had the highest GPA) was when I would spend Friday afternoon until Sunday evening at a friend's house- we'd go bowling every Friday (he was in a league), watch a lot of movies, and study physics together- we were both biology majors (he was marine biology and I was biology education) so we had that connection too. During the week, I would either hang out with a roommate or other campus friends, go shopping, etc. I also became a Staff member at CF so that helped me to stay busy too.

I hope you can find some new hobbies and friends to enjoy that will help the homesickness go away

 

[branchofthevine]

I was never homesick myself, but a good number of my friends would often go home to see their families. I don't think there is anything wrong with that because growing older and more independent is pretty terrifying at times.