As a first generation American coming from a family of Romanian immigrants, similarly to other first generation Americans, I was raised in a household where I was surrounded by the culture of my ethnic heritage. Entering my first year of college, living in a dorm on campus five hours away from home, was a life-changing experience for an 18-year-old who had lived with her parents for her entire life. I was so used to being surrounded by Romanian culture at home: listening to the language being spoken all the time, constantly overhearing the Romanian news channels that my dad would leave on and Romanian music my mom would blast as she cleaned, and eating cultural food often.
I’m sure every college student who lives on campus can relate to experiencing some kind of homesickness โ leaving the environment you lived in for some time, maybe even your whole life, is a dramatic change โ especially for freshmen in college, who are usually teenagers. On top of the same homesickness that every student faces, such as missing the routines, customs, and people in your household, there is a similar but less common type of homesickness in students coming from households that are strongly immersed in their ethnic culture, and especially international students who leave countries with cultures that are completely different from the United States’.
After going through my full first year, working on adjusting to the big transition, I have observed specific activities that have helped me cope with the deficiency of my own ethnic culture when I once lived in an environment that was rich with it.
Facetiming Family
This is one of the most obvious solutions to homesickness, of course, but when it comes to cultural homesickness, FaceTiming family even just to get a chance to speak your native language can be an easy but effective way to boost your mood through engaging with some aspect of your culture. One of the things I noticed myself missing the most from home was hearing Romanian being spoken, and practicing with my mom over the phone or just overhearing my parents speak it through a call felt reassuring. It felt as if I was back at home again, overhearing the dynamic between my parents in a language that I hear almost exclusively at home, which is more personal to me than English, a language I could hear being spoken anywhere on the street in the United States.
speaking your language with other students
Unfortunately, this is exclusive to students whose native language is popularly spoken in the United States, or at least on their campus. An obvious common language that many students are able to connect through is Spanish, which is the second most spoken language in the United States. As a Romanian, I have had little luck finding other people to speak to in Romanian, however I have many friends who have been able to connect with others in their native languages, even if they come from a smaller country. I have become friends with many Bengali international students on my campus, and they have luckily been able to connect through culture and language, which has made them feel more at home, even in a country across the ocean from their home.
cooking for yourself
I have noticed that a large number of international students, and even domestic students that come from a culturally rich household, tend to get rid of their meal plan to cook for themselves. At Gettysburg, we are able to request certain kinds of foods that the dining hall considers offering as a meal, however that is not always fulfilling enough for someone who is used to eating cultural dishes every day. Cooking dishes from your culture can make you feel at home, and you get to practice a useful skill!
engage with and appreciate other cultures
Although there may not be many Romanians on campus, I have been able to interact with many people from so many different cultures around the world. I may never experience an event celebrating Romanian culture on campus, but I’ve found that participating in events and traditions from other cultures is super fun! I get to learn about other cultures and experience their traditions for the first time, which is a unique experience. I may miss being surrounded by my family’s ethnic culture, but what I miss most is the joy of getting together to participate in any cultural celebrations in large groups of people.
Travel to your country of origin
As I’ve grown older and become more busy due to school becoming more serious and intense, I have had less time to travel to Romania with my family. As a child who was born and raised in America, I did not have as much of an appreciation for the consistent trips to Romania I had the privilege of going on. I had enough interaction with Romanian culture at home, and being surrounded by it in a different place did not feel like much of a difference to me. However, as I’ve grown older I have felt drawn closer to my Romanian heritage, and feel incredibly grateful for any trip I get to take to Romania to be immersed within its culture. It is a healing experience, especially after experiencing a lack of the culture you have been missing due to being in a location where it is not as prevalent.