To the girl who is homesick,

I know your pain. There comes a point in everyone’s life where they feel this pain. Being homesick is an emotion that is hard to describe. It is a mix of feeling lonely and being unattached to the surroundings around you because you miss a certain familiarity that home gives you. Sometimes you come to a certain point in your life when you need familiarity.

Going home for a weekend reminds us of the things we can sometimes lose touch of when being away. It is so easy to become accustomed to this new life and atmosphere away from home. New people, new friends, new responsibilities. We tend to get into a routine and can forget about the parts of our lives that helped get us to where we are.

If you are sitting in your dorm room feeling homesick, that is OK. It is totally normal to be feeling this. Feeling homesick is a part of the whole process of going to college. Being away from your hometown, family, and friends for the first time is something that you can never fully prepare for until you are alone, sitting in your dorm room.

You look around at the pictures of your hometown’s sunsets, your brother’s school picture, your summer memories and can’t help but wish you could be transported back into those moments. Don't worry, you will be back soon.

The best advice I can give you is to call your parents, FaceTime your friends, and get involved. Create a routine within your everyday life. Having a schedule and being involved was a big part of how I survived my freshman year of college. During the first few days of my freshman year, I was crying on the phone to my mom. She told me to get up, go down the hall, knock on someone’s door and ask them to go to dinner with me. You want to know something cool? That girl became my best friend.

When you get involved, you meet other people and eventually you make more and more friends. Go to the gym, go explore outside of campus, find your local coffee shop and do your homework with friends there. All these things will create a “home away from home” for you.

Before you know it, you will be home for your holiday break and you will be back into your realm of familiarity. This will be one of the weirdest and best feelings ever. As you walk into your house, all of your senses will be on high alert. Since you have been gone for some time, it will feel as if you never knew the smell of your own home before.

Your first night in your bed and not your dorm bed (that “best feeling” I was talking about) will be your best nights sleep in a while. It will feel as if school was just a dream in the midst of your relocation into familiarity.

Sometimes it is hard to go back to school after being home for a break because you have just gotten back into your normal routine of being with your family, friends, and doing all the things you used to do when you were permanently at home. Remember: it will be OK. The first few days are hard, but you will eventually get back in the groove of things.

So, the next time you are homesick, remember: this is normal and you will be OK. You will look back one day and reminisce on how fast it all went. These times will fly by and you will wonder where those homesick moments went while in the heart of a new summer.

Home is complete and utter happiness that warms the inside of your soul. Home has given you so many memories and it is where your heart and soul have been attached for so long. Home makes you feel thankful for where you have ended up.

The feeling of being home is hard to explain. Sometimes the best things are more difficult to put into words because the feeling is so good and can only be felt rather than described.

Wherever you have ended up, home will always be there…waiting for you with a warm welcome and hug of familiarity.

Love,

The girl who has been in your shoes