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Homesick? Simple Tips to Cheer Up Fast

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Olga Reyes
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Kaitlin Provost
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Oswego chapter.

Remember the first time you spent the night away from home? You felt uneasy and uncomfortable, and all you wanted to do was go home. Homesickness is very common in college students, especially new students who are not used to being away from home. Here are some tips to help you get adjusted to your new college life without feeling homesick:
  
Make friends– You probably met a few cool people during orientation, but you haven’t actually found your solid group of friends yet. That’s okay! Meet your neighbors in your dorm, talk to some classmates, and reconnect with those people you met at orientation. College is a pool filled with different people; you’re bound to find many people who share the same interests as you. Getting to know new people will take your mind off missing home.

Start off the semester with a great roommate– Find ways to connect with your roommate the first few weeks of school. You want to build a good foundation with your roommate so that living with that person will be a breeze, instead of a complicated and stressful mess. Talk to your roommate, find out her interests, and spend time with her in and out of your room.
           
Keep yourself busy– Throw yourself at the busy college life! Start off classes the right way by attending class every day. Get started on homework assignments, read the required materials and take plenty of notes. Look for jobs on campus, join a couple of clubs, and get a gym membership. Once you find yourself busy with work, you will begin to miss home a lot less.
          
Look for events around campus– SUNY Oswego is always hosting cultural, academic and sporting events around campus. A good way to keep your mind busy is to go to a few events with a group of people and enjoy the scene.  ALANA week is coming up, so it’s time to look for the events schedule and attend some workshops and bigger events such as the ALANA fashion show.

           
Make your room yours!– When you move in, it’s always a good idea to personalize your space. Decorating your room will make it feel more comfortable, which will make you feel more at home. Put up pictures of your family, posters of your favorite actors, or even spend time making a personalized nametag to hang on your door.
           
Time is all you need– Getting used to being away from home is not as easy as it sounds, but don’t stress yourself out if you find yourself being homesick in the third or fourth week of school. Give yourself some time to get used to the idea that you are away from home. It takes some time to adjust, but hang in there: it will get better!
          

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Kaitlin Provost graduated from SUNY Oswego, majoring in journalism with a learning agreement in photography. She grew up in five different towns all over the Northeast, eventually settling and graduating from high school in Hudson, Massachusetts. Kait now lives in the blustery town of Oswego, New York, where she can frequently be found running around like a madwoman, avoiding snow drifts taller than her head (which, incidentally, is not very tall). She has worked for her campus newspaper, The Oswegonian, as the Assistant News Editor, and is also the President of the Oswego chapter of Ed2010, a national organization which helps students break into the magazine industry. She hopes to one day work for National Geographic and travel the world.