<p>You all are right, I just have to do it and try not to think about my home that much after I leave, just make friends on campus and then have a time to call/skype. I will keep you all posted after move-in and after I get in the transition/routine (next week). Like you said, I’m hoping it won’t be nearly as bad as I think it will be once I get there. Thanks again for all the encouragement, and right, I gotta do it for the parents too haha</p>
<p>Maybe you should reconsider a college closer to home. If you bale on this school before you start, you can still apply to other schools as a freshman. Just take this year as a gap year. Changing paths is not the worst thing in the world.</p>
<p>I know it is scary but looking at it from my point of a parent: I really wish the tables were turned and I was the one that was your age and going to college! Starting a new adventure! It is so exciting for you and luckily you are able to go.</p>
<p>From where I sit now (based on my experience) it is MUCH harder on the parent. I dropped my S off a week ago and he is where he wants to be, making new friends, learning to live on his own, figuring out his future and what he wants it to be. You get to make this experience, your life, what you want it to be.</p>
<p>There will be adjustments and sadness, but so many opportunites for you. I at the point I am in my life as an adult and a parent-wish I had the same things ahead of me. Enjoy them and embrace them!</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!! :-)</p>
<p>And Philly is such a great city to get to know. Get outside once in a while and check out all of the historical stuff, hit the museums, walk around South Street to Penn’s Landing. (Personally, I think Jim’s at 4th and South have the best cheesesteaks.) </p>
<p>My DD went to college in NY, and immersed herself in Broadway shows, she visited different neighborhoods, did research at the main library, went to a few museums, etc. Sometimes with others, sometimes by herself. It made her less homesick.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! You’re right, this should be an exciting adventure for me, and I’ll be sure to go around Philly. As for bailing, I don’t think that’s a really great option for me right now. One of the reasons I chose to go far away instead of some closer schools was because, as my parents told me, when choosing a college the distance from home really should not be a huge factor (it should be more about opportunities, etc.), and money also shouldn’t be a huge factor as long as each is affordable, since I got pretty good financial aid for penn. So I took this challenge :(</p>
<p>Though this past week I’ve been almost regretting not staying close to home, I guess I’ll never know until I give it a shot at least. It wasn’t an easy decision for me, since the other main choice was University of South Carolina, which gave me a mcnair scholarship, and it took me up until almost the deadline to decide. Right now I’m just hoping that everything happens for a reason, and I guess this process is crucial to me in growing up</p>
<p>Remember that what you’re feeling right now is temporary. Perfectly normal, but temporary. It will pass, and you’ve gotten lots of great suggestions for making it pass more quickly. Keep telling yourself – This won’t last, this won’t last. You are going to get through it, and I’m going to predict right now: You’ll be glad you took the chance and did it. 
</p>
<p>And as others have said, in those moments when it’s tough, you’ve found a support group here.</p>
<p>LasMa, thank you very very much, all of your replies and the others’ too mean a lot to me. I will keep telling myself that, and will update this</p>
<p>SinkOrSwim123 once you get on campus you will have so many opportunities to be busy and have fun that you might not have time to think about missing home. Take advantage of all the things NSO offers, get involved on campus and you will have a great time. </p>
<p>Your RA should organize the floor right away to make sure people have a group to go to the dining hall and other activities with those first weeks so you won’t be alone. </p>
<p>I was on campus today dropping DS for Sophomore year and campus is buzzing already! Which dorm are you living in?</p>
<p>Sinkorswim, try to remember that most of the other freshmen feel like you do. Be open and friendly and you will make friends easily. Penn has a great freshman orientation so there will be lots of activities right away. My D graduated from Penn in the spring and she had a wonderful 4 years. Best of luck.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>You are going to do just fine because you have a great attitude!</p>
<p>Yes, You will miss your family, and they will miss you. But neither of you have vanished off the face of the earth, and that’s why there are phones and skype!</p>
<p>If it helps, remember that “home” as you remember it will be changing somewhat too. Your friends from high school are not staying frozen in time and place…they, too, are out on their new life adventures.</p>
<p>A few years ago, one of my neighbor’s daughters came home about 2 weeks after leaving for a school just 3 hours away…she never gave herself a chance to acclimate and develop a new life. In her mind, she wanted her old life back…bagels in the cafeteria before class, pizza and football games and after parties on Friday nights, the local mall on Saturday afternoons. So she came home from school…only to find that her old life didn’t really exist any more. She wasn’t in high school and didn’t go for a bagel in the cafeteria. Her friends weren’t home any more either…they were all off at their own colleges. She was more miserable than ever.</p>
<p>She ended up working at home for a few months, and then spent a semester in Israel before starting at college the following fall.</p>
<p>Just let yourself be happy! And maybe arrange for your sister to come down for a weekend later this fall so you can show her around.</p>
<p>You all are making me feel a lot better, thanks, and boysx3 i see what you’re saying, that I have to stick it through since home’ll be different anyways as everyone else is off to their own lives as well. I’ll be open and do the events in nso, and parentofpeople I’m in Ware. Signed up for quad since I heard it’s a great place for freshmen</p>
<p>SinkOrSwim123, the Quad will be so full of activity you are going to have a great time! I think that is the best place for freshmen too. You might be too busy, but I would love to hear a progress report about a week after you get there.</p>
<p>haha i will do!</p>
<p>okay, second day after moving in, and feeling okay. I mean right now I just have to stick it through year by year. Said bye to parents today, and I gotta do it for them, too. besides, time for me to “leave the nest”.</p>
<p>You can do it! You will do it!</p>
<p>If you see someone else looking a little lost or lonely–make sure you say hi!</p>
<p>haha yeah, going to be social and have fun these days, will post an update a while after classes start on the 5th of September so that this may help others that are similar</p>
<p>I’d focus on the possibilities open to you from going off to UPenn, being in the Philly/University city area, and the experiences/friends you’ll make during your undergrad career. I would also talk with your trusted friends about how you’re feeling…especially those who have already had a year or two of college under their belt or recent graduates. </p>
<p>Try to accentuate the positive and if you can, view going off to college as a new wondrous adventure to be embarked upon. That’s how I viewed going off to college at 17. Then again, I was more than ready to move on to explore the college experience and was ready to bust out of my high school surroundings/life.</p>
<p>SinkOrSwim, how’s your weekend going?</p>
<p>thanks cobrat. and Lasma, my weekend is going all right, I usually just hang with a few friends, meet a lot of other ppl (though I’ll probably forget them), go to the gym with some friends, and you know, trying to stay busy and have fun. Right now I’m feeling fine, I haven’t really felt any severe sadness from homesickness, maybe because I already felt it before I left for college. So like you guys said, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I’m limiting calling parents once a day, and skyping once a week so that I don’t think about it too much. </p>
<p>But I do not know how it will be after classes start (since some students say they are fine for the first week and then get homesick after like a month haha) but we’ll see and, like you all said, I have to focus my mindset on this new experience that I’m having.</p>
<p>Hi OP!</p>
<p>How are you doing?</p>
<p>I’m taking the fact that you haven’t posted recently as a good sign that you are getting involved on your campus and enjoying yourself.</p>
<p>I hope I am right!</p>