After going home for the winter break, it’s pretty common for first year students to really start feeling homesick. The novelty that came with being in the first year of university and being away from home for the first time starts to wear off, and residence starts to feel like more of an inconvenience. But how can one push through the second semester winter “blahs” and keep working towards a strong first year?
1. Set up a plan to keep in touch with your friends and family
In this age of technology, it’s hard to not have some way of keeping in touch even over long distances. Set up a way that you and your family or friends prefer to communicate, and stick to it! Having regular Skype calls with family is a good way to keep in touch that will stop you from feeling out of the loop when you get back home. Otherwise, regular text messages and phone calls (if you don’t mind the potential long distance charges) are also a great choice. Since it can be difficult to balance keeping up with your loved ones along with school work and extracurriculars, try setting a specific time aside every week to talk to your friends and family.
2. Make plans for when you are going to be home
Seeing as the winter break tends to be full of prior commitments, you may have not been able to see your BFF as often as you would have liked, or perhaps you didn’t get to do everything on the gigantic mental list of fun activities that you conjured up for your family. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time to squeeze in everything you want to do. With all of the potential visits home that you may (or may not) be taking advantage of, there should be plenty of time to see them in the future and complete that list. The reading week for winter semester is a great opportunity, as well as Easter weekend. Just make sure you set up a date and stick to it!
3. Stay involved with your school life
While it might be hard to drag yourself out of bed for your 8:30 a.m. class, especially when the weather is below-freezing, it’s crucial to stay involved with your school life. You’re paying to be here, so try to make the most of it! Reconnect with the friends on campus that you haven’t seen since before winter break, maybe make some new ones in your new classes, or join a club on campus if you didn’t get the chance to during your first semester. Stay involved with your on-campus life instead of counting down the days until you go home – it will pay off immensely in the long run!
4. Keep busy and active
Whether you choose to keep your mind busy by staying caught up on readings and assignments or by finally sticking to that gym schedule you set up for yourself months ago, there are plenty of productive ways to keep yourself busy and distracted. Even if you feel like being less productive, finally watching that show you’ve been dying to watch on Netflix or having mini movie marathons works just as well. Whatever your busy looks like, try and find a way to do it. It will make your time at school go by so much faster!
5. Find on-and-off campus events to attend
Another great way to avoid boredom and distract yourself from homesickness is to find events to attend, whether they’re on campus or not. Go to a concert for a band that you probably wouldn’t get a chance to see in your hometown, find Frost Week events to attend, or any other event you can find. It’s a great chance to meet new people and learn new things, along with creating great memories and stories to share in the future. Maybe some of those stories will serve as great conversation starters for reconnecting with friends back home, or for anyone else you happen to meet in the future! Get yourself out there and find something fun to take your mind off of things if you find yourself starting to feel down.
6. Create a personal list of things to do for the times when you know you won’t be otherwise distracted.
Weekends in residence can suck. When you know you don’t have to get up to go to a class, or do much of anything, it can be easy to just lay in bed and pass the day away doing nothing. Then the guilt over not doing anything will set in and just make everything worse. Break the cycle by setting up a personal schedule for when you know you won’t have classes or some other event to keep you busy. A simple list of goals that you want to get done on your break days will not only stop you from being bored (which was already mentioned as something to avoid) but you may also surprise yourself with the amount of work you start getting done once you start making yourself work!
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While winter homesickness might prove to be a bit of a struggle for some, these tips should help stop it from becoming overwhelming. If you have any go-to’s for the times when you start missing home, feel free to drop them in the comments below. Best of luck making it through second semester, collegiettes!