I wasn’t homesick at all my freshman year. I was excited. I loved my first year of college, and never once felt the urge to go home. I enjoyed being home over breaks, but always yearned to return to college.
Things are better this year. I’ve declared my major, have a clear idea of what I want to study, I have found my place within clubs and have amazing friends. I’m even in a relationship with a great person.
And for some reason, I find myself insanely homesick. I cry in my room every single day (that sounds so depressing, sorry lol), thinking about home. I miss my mom, my dogs, my uncomfortable bed (my college bed is much nicer because my school has luxurious dorms), my mom’s terrible food (sorry mom, I love you, but again my college has top notch food).
I miss high school (which I never thought I’d say), I miss my friends and I even miss my town, which I always considered boring and too small before I left for college.
I can’t go home until Thanksgiving, and even then it will only be a few days because of flight costs. I can’t wait for winter break, but until then I have no idea how to overcome this. I literally burst into tears whenever I see anything that reminds me of home. I just want to go home.
Has anyone else experienced this, especially post-freshman year? How did you guys deal with this?
This is totally normal. Dealing with homesickness is a process, not a discrete event of now you have it now you don’t. It’s something that can come and go, and appear at the most unexpected times. Perhaps the shine and excitement of being in college has worn off a little, perhaps you are having a delayed reaction. It doesn’t really matter. You feel what you feel. Accept it. Homesickness hurts but also is a sign that you are deeply loved. Don’t worry, you can handle it. Just Facetime or Skype or text your Mom or Dad a little more frequently. They’ll enjoy it, and you’ll probably get a little relief.
Great post @NorthernMom61 . I’ve been living away from my family for over 30 years and I still get homesick sometimes. I suspect this year reality is sinking in: you are growing up and understanding that perhaps every year college is just a little closer to you leaving home. But the good news is you never have to leave home if you don’t want to. You can move back to your hometown, you can live at home after graduation, you have skype, texting, email, facetime, social media, etc… These days it’s easier than ever to stay connected to who and what matters to you.
Go ahead and indulge your homesickness for a little while and realize that it’s part of the process of becoming and adult. Then, let it go and move on. Sometime in the relatively near future, you are going to start making your own adult memories that won’t be possible until you branch out as an adult. I wouldn’t trade my life now for my life before I finished college. You have many wonderful experiences to look forward to, so embrace your future as well as your past.
“you have skype, texting, email, facetime, social media, etc… These days it’s easier than ever to stay connected to who and what matters to you.”
Sometimes I think this is a mixed blessing since it allows you to keep one foot in your high school world and one foot in your college world, which may actually exacerbate being homesick. When I went to school back in the stone age, that wasn’t an option for anyone. The only connection to your high school life was a payphone down the hall and an occasional letter showing up in your mailbox (and I’m not talking about email).
When my DD was in middle school, we moved to Germany.
it took her a while, but she was okay. THen we went back to the USA for Xmas break, and the homesickness would start up again. After a few weeks it would die down again.
I suspect that is what is happening to you.
I agree that social media is a mixed blessing…yes she could say in touch with old friends but that kept her from investing in new freinds.