Fall Break is swiftly approaching, and for many students that means a chance to return home for a week. I’m a freshman and I’ve never been homesick. It’s not that I have a bad home life or that I don’t get along with my parents. I’m just astoundingly unsentimental and independent. That said, Fall Break cannot come soon enough.
I call my parents and grandmas weekly and text my younger sisters almost constantly, but I still feel the void created by leaving home that cannot be filled with dining hall food, new friends, or shower shoes. I assumed that I wouldn’t want to go home for Fall Break because it was “so soon,” but now, I’m counting down the days.
This feeling is not unique. Yes, we’re having a great time in college, discovering the sense of freedom we’ve never experienced before, meeting new people, and, in accordance with every cliche, “finding ourselves.” But, even if we’re not necessarily unhappy, this transition is still strange and usually at least a little uncomfortable.
The dining hall gets old. Showering with shoes is bad enough, but trying to shave in those tiny cubicles is nearly impossible. Getting into and out of loft beds is a precarious business. All bathrooms are public bathrooms. Are any of these completely horrible? Not necessarily, but they all serve as little reminders that this isn’t our home. At least not yet.
So, how can you help beat homesickness? Many people have pictures in their dorm rooms or a favorite blanket or stuffed animal. Most students make a point to call home every once in a while and it’s not uncommon to Skype friends and family from back home. These can all ease the ache, but be careful not to devote too much time to it. It can be very easy to lose time trying to keep up with things back home that you don’t try anything or meet anyone new, which is what college is all about. Do enough to ease the pain, but not so much that it increases your longing to go back.
Fall Break can be especially rough for students who can’t go home; not only do they miss their family, but they’ll miss many of the new friends who will be gone for the week. If this situation applies to you, reach out to your friends. Find out if anyone else will also be staying on campus, or see if you could go home with a friend who’s driving. It won’t be your family, but it could still help and at the very least you won’t be moping around on campus alone.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are those students who don’t miss home in the slightest. Maybe they had a bad home life, but that’s not necessarily true. It doesn’t mean they love their family any less.
Whatever your feelings are, you’re not alone. Whether you feel bad because you miss home or because you feel guilty about not missing home, your feelings aren’t weird and don’t make you weak or heartless.
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