Moving from home to a college campus is a very big step because it is a small taste of life outside of your parents’ house. They say that college is supposed to be the best four years of your life. However, that is a difficult thing to live up to if you spend all of your time away from home thinking about home.
As a college student who’s been there, I’ve come up with some helpful tips that should be able to make that transition from home to dorm a little easier.
Here are 5 ways to combat homesickness:
1. Tell your parents that calling every day isn’t necessary.
This was a big one for me. During my first semester, I was in a meeting for one of the clubs I was a part of, and it lasted about an hour. When I checked my phone, I saw that my mother had called me 12 times in a row! I had to tell her that she needed to cut down on her calls.
How are you supposed to stand on your own two feet if your parents call you every hour, on the hour, to see what you are doing?
2. Do not go home EVERY weekend.
I only lived an hour away from campus, and during my first semester, I would go home every other weekend. I missed out on so many fun activities. Just go home on holidays like spring break, Thanksgiving, etc.
3. New experiences can’t come from home.
You moved away for a reason—to learn new things, meet new people, and do things that you’ve never done before. Those four years fly by very quickly so make the most of them.
Take advantage of every opportunity your college provides you, from free workshops to on-campus events.
4. Keep yourself occupied.
Once you get into the swing of things (trying to balance a social life, keeping up your grades, and working)—trust me—homesickness will not be an issue. The more things you’re involved in, the less you’ll think about missing home.
5. It is OK to miss home.
When school starts to get stressful, if no one seems to understand what you are going through and especially if you get sick, there is nothing that you’ll want more than for your mother to tell you everything is going to be OK and to fix you a bowl of soup.
There is nothing wrong with being homesick, especially if you’ve been away from it for so long. So when you need to call home, do it. They’ll be happy to hear from you.
Final Word
Hopefully, these tips can help ease the pain of missing your home while away at college.
After you finish college, you will want nothing more than to move out of your parents’ house into your own place. That is because you’ll finally know what it’s like to be out on your own, and that would not have been accomplished unless you learned how to overcome obstacles and combat homesickness.