Since moving to college, I've definitely felt some homesickness. Nothing beats the sound of your dogs running up to the front door upon your arrival or your mom's special mashed potatoes. I didn't realize the power of homesickness until I moved abroad to Paris and the importance of home magnified.

The whole goal of growing up in a small town is to get out, right?

Luckily I knew the homesickness I felt on my gap year will never compare to the homesickness I feel in college because now I know how to deal with it.

Homesickness definitely involves a lot of overthinking and one way to combat that is to find distractions. It's normal to miss the place you feel most comfortable in and know most, if not all, your life. Luckily in college, roommates and friends act as a good distraction. Since coming to college I have not stopped laughing.

I have a roommate from the Midwest so you can imagine the drastic change going from a town in Illinois to Southern Charleston.

For the first two weeks of school, my roommate kept talking about wanting to transfer which made my other suitemates and me sad to think of her early departure after we got along so well. Being able to fully relate to homesickness, I was able to give her some advice and help her through it.

She also went home for a week which helped open her eyes to the fact that home will not change. Now she has come back and decided to stay the full semester. Everything stays exactly the same as you left it. I definitely noticed that when I came back after spending nine months in Paris.

For peace of mind, know that homesickness is almost always in your head and you can still visit home on Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. College is the time to go out and meet new people, explore new places and expand your knowledge.

At what other time in your life can you party, spend all-nighters in the library, and have endless sleepovers with people your age all at the same time?

Don't let homesickness win.