College is the land of freedom for many. The thought of independence, being away from parents, getting to do all you want with no repercussions. Sounds amazing right? That is what many incoming students think. I too had that thought process last year as an incoming freshman. I enjoyed late nights with new friends, no curfew, eating what I wanted, going out to town and many more things. I didn’t really miss home or think about going back, I was in my peak of freedom.
Now as a second-year student being away from home has become hard. Many may not admit it but I do. I miss being with my family, having home-cooked meals, my mom’s hugs and reassurance. I find myself feeling guilty for being in college and a sort of traitor for leaving my family. I am Mexican and proud and if there’s anything to know about Mexican families is that we are big about family. My family is a close unit, some being the missing piece always hurts. With that being said homesickness is a very common feeling. Every college student is bound to feel homesick once in a while, so I have some advice on how to make the process a bit lighter that I have accumulated in my sad girl hours.
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Crying is Totally Acceptable
I myself am not big on showing my emotions, much less crying, but I have found myself crying more than usual due to homesickness. It took me some time to come to terms with myself that it is perfectly acceptable to cry, so everybody should be okay with it. It really helps to just cry it out. I find it lifts a weight off of you and drives away the sadness you previously had.
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Give your Mom a Call
This is my favorite one. I love calling my mom and just asking her for advice on what to do. I do find it challenging since I feel more like crying when I talk to her and then she starts crying, but it encourages me to keep strong with her words of affirmation that it is all okay. Some words of encouragement from my mom, I think anybody could use…”Everything will be okay. You are strong and smart. You are in college for a reason, focus on your studying, have fun, but not too much fun and know that we miss you but want what is best for you. Everyone is cheering on for you which is why you have to be strong” I find this calming and reassuring because it makes me think of all the reasons I am in college for, all the things I aspire to achieve and a bit of homesickness won’t be an obstacle.
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Getting Out of Your Room
This tip one that I definitely recommend just go out of your room. I know lots of people who tend to stay in their room, in bed and that doesn’t help. If anything that is worse and depresses a person way more. I recommend that you go out on a walk, change your study place, get a fresh breeze, try out that new coffee shop around the corner, anything that will clear your mind.
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Surrounding Yourself With Friends
Another tip that I find useful is to surround yourself with your friends. There are two ways to go about this 1) go out with a group of friends and talk or shop. It is a great way to clear your mind. 2) Is to get your closest friends and just talk it out with them, cry with each other and be there for one another. I recently did this with my friends and found out they too were feeling exactly like I was. We were all homesick and stressed, so we vented to each other and found a new home to support one another.
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Stay Busy
With staying busy I mean literally everything and anything you can think about doing. Hobbies, doing homework, anything that can distract you from just being by yourself and alone. I find it reassuring to be studying along with my friends, go to campus events and overall have fun. If you are far from home like many out-of-state students are I recommend to join clubs that correlate with your hobbies. They keep you busy and encourage you to be out and about with the company.
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Go Back to Familiarity
Sometimes homesickness gets the best of you and there’s not much that can help but go back to that familiarity. I do that in two ways, one being visiting my family or them visiting me. This is a hard one since time is hard to manage as well as traveling, but if it can be done than it really helps. Option number two is going back home in some senses. What I mean by this is having things that remind you of home close to you, an example is I decorated my room close to my room at home. Some other tips would be having candles that remind you of home, cooking a meal that your mom always made for you, calling back home when you feel homesick.
These are a few tips that help me. They are definitely ones I keep on practicing to cope and minimalize my homesickness this term. I hope they work for anybody out there that is experiencing homesickness. Remember it is very normal to feel the emotions of being away from home and overcoming those is one of those college things you can say you did. Pretty soon you’ll be chilling in your house reminiscing about the times when you felt home was far away but it wasn’t, because as cheesy as it may sound home is where you want it to be.