For some of the members of the class of 2020, home is right around the corner. They can stop home with laundry, raid the pantry, and visit their canine or feline or reptilian friends whenever they so choose. For others, the journey to a familiar bed takes something ranging between seven and twenty hours. It is for those students that the first few weeks of college can be a little bit harder to stomach.
Moving away from home can be a difficult experience for anyone; moving so far away that you do not have regular access to the people and places you love only exacerbates that feeling. For those of you who are miles and miles from home, here are a few tips to get through those first few grueling weeks.
1. Home is where the photographs are.
Odds are your last few years were eventful enough to create a treasure trove of memories. But sometimes, you need something a little more concrete to get you through the day. Displaying pictures of your friends or family or significant other around your mirror or desk is the perfect boost. Even though seeing all those lovely faces might pull on your heartstrings a bit, having those moments of happiness immortalized on your wall reminds you of everyone pulling for you back home.
2. There’s nothing wrong with a sweatshirt in 80 degree weather.
Sometimes our memories are a little more abstract. Maybe you have a blanket you constantly cuddled with on the couch at home. Maybe it’s a tee shirt you got at a concert with your friends. Maybe it’s a sweatshirt from your significant other. Maybe it’s a fan shirt for someone you barely spoke to sophomore year. Wear these (or in the case of the blanket, drape them across you) with pride. Who cares if you get a few odd looks because you are wearing that sweatshirt while every other student is drenched in sweat? It means something to you – take it and use it.
3. The way to the heart is through the stomach.
Dining halls… can be a hit or miss. Sometimes the meatloaf tastes just like your mother’s and sometimes it tastes suspiciously like the mystery meat your high school served. Sometimes even Ramen is unsatisfying. It is pretty easy to miss food from home, so load up on as much as you can. That could mean packing multiple gallon-sized bags of some specialty trail mix. Or maybe it means sneaking a few pictures of a family recipe book. Do you best to make familiar, beloved food available to you – even if that means just keeping your favorite yogurt in the fridge.
4. You actually can leave your room.
When you are feeling homesick, the easiest thing in the world to do is stay in your dorm room and binge on the latest Netflix hit. As someone who spent about 80% of her first week doing exactly that, I beg you not to. Unfortunately, this is a generation that was raised to multitask all too well, meaning that Aziz Ansari special just is not as distracting as it should be. Granted, it can be difficult to convince yourself to venture outside your room. But you can do it. And the more you distract yourself with socializing and events and classes, the less likely you are to think about home.
5. Your phone is your best friend.
I mean this quite literally. Your best friend? Your parents and siblings? All of the people you love? They are waiting right there behind that phone or computer screen. And that interaction is not just limited to texting between classes. As much as we love to herald texting as the best long-distance form of communication, it just isn’t personal. You don’t get to see a smile or hear someone’s tone or feel their laughter through a text. Call people on your way to class. Set up weekly Skype dates with the people you miss. Text all day – but remember to set aside time to see them, too. In this regard, modern out-of-state or long-distance students are much luckier than generations gone by.
Living far away from the things you love is a difficult adjustment. There will be tears. There will be days you want to go home. But remember what you are here for. And remember that all of those things will be waiting for you when you get back.
