As Freshman begin to move in these next few weeks a lot of them will be hit with homesickness. Like most sicknesses, homesickness does pass but it can be difficult to get through it. I was one of the lucky few my freshman year who never came into contact with it, and here's a few things I think contributed to that.
1. I made my dorm room my own
A couple of the people I came into contact with that had really bad homesickness, had really bland rooms. Now I'm not saying you need to bring everything you own from home to school with you, what I'm saying is having things that are familiar and things are yours around you helps out a lot with helping you realize that this is your home. Above you can see my freshman dorm, tiny yet mighty. I put pictures up, put a rug on my floor, a curtain over my window, and even put in a bookshelf. Just a few things that made me really love where I lived.
2. I went out and made friends
Trust me when I tell you that I understand that this is scariest, craziest time in your life. But while I understand how shy and timid that can make you, you should know that having great friends at college and getting a good support system under you helps when you're first leaving home, because it means that you're no longer relying on your family for some of those things. Don't get me wrong nobody can replace your parent's, but they won't be there for you to cry on their shoulder. A friend will be, because whether they feel homesick or not trust me when I say everyone knows what it feels like to miss their family.
3. I made use of my idle time
This helped me out BIG time. When you get into college you're going to have free time on your hands, so go out and find something to fill that time with. A lot of my classmates went out and found jobs. I found a place that I love volunteering at! During my free time on the weekends I volunteer at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, a great little tourist place just about 15 minutes away from my school where I spend some of my free time on weekends. Not only do I love working there, but it helps me fill my free time and it gives me skills that I could use later on in life when I'm looking for a job or working with new people.
