As a third year student at Fairfield, I have experienced my fair share of move-in days to understand that emotions tend to be all over the place. Of course, I am always excited to see friends again that I haven’t seen for months, but there is also a degree of trepidation for the upcoming year and sadness at saying goodbye to my parents and home friends again. I have come to realize that for some people, no matter how many times they leave for school, saying goodbye to their loved ones will be difficult. Here are some of my suggestions for how to cope with being homesick.
1. Talk to your friends – I know for me, surrounding myself with friends and the people that I’m close to helps to ease some of the sadness that I feel when I miss home. Constantly being around people can be tricky though if you move in early like I do each year. What I have found to work is if you spend the day with the people that you know on campus and then FaceTime with friends who aren’t there yet at night, you hardly think about what’s making you sad and it’s an easy way to keep your excitement from turning into loneliness.
2. Watch Netflix – One of the realities of college is that you will inevitably have to give up on watching television consistently. Take advantage of how early it is in the semester and the minimal work that you likely have to decompress and watch some Netflix either by yourself or with friends who have already arrived on campus.
3. Call home – I suggest waiting until you feel a bit better before calling home, but for some people calling immediately helps them get over their homesickness. For me, I prefer to wait a little while so that I can get to a place where hearing my parents’ voices doesn’t upset me. However, whichever method works best for you, hearing from home always helps to bring a sense of familiarity, especially if you’re living somewhere new.
4. Listen to music – Even though it seems masochistic, sometimes listening to both happy and sad songs is enough to get you through being upset. For me, when I listen to a sad song I immediately feel all of the emotions, but then they’re flushed out and it makes listening to upbeat songs much more bearable.
5. Go for a walk – It seems cliché, but it’s ridiculous not to go for a walk around campus while the weather is still relatively warm and sunny. Before it gets too cold, you should also take advantage of any free time that you have and try to get some sun so that any color that you gained over the summer doesn’t disappear.
People tend to think that being homesick disappears after your first year of college. For some people that is true, but don’t be ashamed if you still miss the comforts that home brings when you return to your life as an independent adult. Hopefully it keeps getting easier for you and these tips alleviate the stress that you feel so that you can have a productive and enjoyable year.
