Homesick after the holidays

KateM
Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:16:30 +0000

So I don’t usually post here, but I wanted advice and I don’t know who to ask. I’m a freshman, just entering my second semester. At the beginning of my first semester, I was really homesick for about the first two to three weeks. I’m going to school on the opposite side of the country (about six hours away by plane), so it’s difficult for me to go home “just because.” I really miss my family–I love spending time with them and it’s hard when I realize that I won’t see them for a long time. My feelings of homesickness “went away” for most of my first semester. (I put “went away” in quotes because, while I wasn’t crying myself to sleep anymore, I still think that, if I had been given the choice to go home at any point, I would have chosen home.) I did enjoy my classes, and I did well in them. I also really like the location of my college (it’s in a city), and I’ve had a great time exploring the city. At the same time though, I haven’t made any close friends, although I have met people who I hang out with. I have yet to find a close group of friends like I had in high school, or even people that I can imagine becoming really close with.

Now, after I’ve returned from a great month-long vacation at home, it’s like I’ve been hit with another wave of homesickness. (I seem to get more homesick after every time I see my family. For example, my mom visited me last semester and left me way more homesick than I had been before. It’s gotten to the point where I simultaneously look forward to and dread seeing my family, because I know that I’ll have to go back to school eventually and I’ll be even more homesick when I do.) I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with the college I’m at, and I don’t think transferring to a closer school is really a possibility–I feel like I would still be homesick even if my school was in the same state.

I’m not sure what I’m expecting in the way of advice, maybe just writing down my problems will be some help–but are these feelings normal? Should I just try to stick it out? I already am looking forward to summer (but again, dreading it because I know that it will end and I’ll have to start another year). Any help, especially from someone who has dealt with something similar, would be appreciated.