<p>Hi everyone. I'm looking for some advice on what I've been experiencing recently. Ok here goes:
First semester at my university was awesome! I am an out-of-state freshman, super excited to be out of high school and into my new life. We had football games every weekend, my roommate and I get along great, and I had great classes. Classes were of course stressful but not too bad, I ended the semester with great grades. I barely had any homesickness my first semester. I also never felt any real stress during the first semester.
But during the week of finals everything started to unravel. I got the stomach bug which really sucked and became very weak and dehydrated. This put more stress on me then I've really ever felt for any kind of exams. I finally made it home and recovered. Of course I got back into my relaxing routine at home and everything was great.
The end of the 3 weeks rolled around and bam! I was hit with homesickness before I even left home! I did NOT want to go back to school, I was dreading it. It was the worse I have ever felt. I started getting sick again, which made me think everything was chalking up to anxiety. So I made it back to school and settled in but could never shake the homesickness and feeling of sadness. I am now into my full week of classes but I do not feel any better. It comes and goes in waves but I'm completely exhausted. I can't sleep well which results in me not concentrating in class as well. This gets compounded with feelings of overwhelming sadness of thinking about my home. I usually am very independent which is why I moved so far away from home (I am a 25 hour car drive away) but just this beginning of the semester has been so hard.
I truly believe I suffer from anxiety and so I am going to visit a counselor but overall I just feel defeated and am even considering transferring to a school in my home state. Nothing in my friend circle has changed and nothing else had occurred at school to make me feel this. I'm just really sad because I love this university and it was so great last semester! My parents are supportive and say it will get better and is normal but I just feel awful!
So I'm reaching out to anyone who too has experienced this or who could offer advice on how to make it better. I know it's only a few days into my new semester but I just want/need it to get better. Thank you</p>
<p>It is totally normal to feel this way. homesickness can hit a student at any point in their college career. it’s weird. you could be in your last year of college and miss home. it is really hard to get back into the swing of things after a long break away from college life especially when home life is so comforting and way less stressful than college. i went to a school 5 hours away from home because i thought i could handle the distance. boy was i wrong. i didn’t like the school and decided to come home. i am now going to a school 1 hour away and feel a sense of dread that i will have to go back soon. i feel the best way to deal with my homesickness is to distract myself. i also leave my dorm room a lot and i feel better when i am around other people. they don’t have to talk to me i just like to people watch. i would wait until spring break comes and see how you feel by then. i think seeing a counselor is a great idea. one of the problems i experienced was that i wasn’t properly diagnosed for anxiety disorder, depression, and ADHD which could be why my first college experience was so crummy. i would see what the counselor suggests and go from there. just know that you aren’t the only one who experiences homesickness at weird moments. however, if you need to go home then go home! don’t worry what everyone wants from you just make sure you make the decisions for yourself. good luck :)</p>