Three weeks down, late night studying had, clubs joined and friendships made, yet still Brandeis does not feel like a home. As Labor Day weekend came and went the homesickness just seemed to stay for me. Classmates went home for the long weekend or their family came to visit them, but I was left at Brandeis with my parents gone on a trip and my brother with friends from college. When we all first moved in I watched fellow classmates feel homesick, but it still had not hit me yet. It was only when I saw all my friends have the opportunity to see their families again that I began to feel jealous and start to miss home.

They say that college is suppose to be your “home away from home” but it just hasn’t been feeling like that for me. Yes, I have made lots of friends, joined tons of clubs and gone to many parties, but something is just not right. Home and those you call family is something that cannot be matched. No one will ever know you like your family or your friends from high school who have known you since birth. Even though I have absolutely loved my time at Brandeis so far, I am still waiting for that feeling of “I don’t want to leave here anytime soon.” For many of my classmates I see a whole other level of passion and love for Brandeis, but I am still just sitting idly by waiting for when I will no longer feel “sad” about not being home and living in my town with my parents.

College has treated me very well so far. Brandeis has some of the nicest and smartest people and I am eternally grateful to be at a school as amazing as this. I think that no matter how awesome the school you are going to is, you will eventually face some kind of homesickness. In the months before moving in to university the excitement is so high that as students we are not even aware of the fact that EVERYTHING is changing. Everyone (including myself) was so excited to leave home for school that we didn’t think about what leaving for college actually entailed.

No one ever tells you about the gloomy days you’ll face. No one ever tells you about the times that you will feel so alone and so far away from everything you know. It seems like people just talk about the good times of college, but it is important to acknowledge the fact that homesickness happens a lot.