It has been around three weeks since we have been in school and away from home. For those who are not used to be being away from your family, it can be a hard experience.

Being home sick typically does not impact you until a few weeks after classes have begun. You start to miss your mom, your pets, your old friends and everything you used to do back home. If you live close to school, then it maybe not as difficult for you as it is for those who live many miles away.
Being home sick doesn’t hit you when you move in. It starts to take its effect when you’ve been on your own for a few weeks. You realized that when you’re hungry, you have to feed yourself because no one else is going to cook for you like your mom did. You will also learn clothes gets dirty and will not get done if you don’t wash them. You learn to do all things independently. It is completely normal and happens to most of us. No one likes changes but we must adapt until it gets better.

It is important to make sure you are not dwelling on home and the next time you will visit.  It is okay to be sad and homesick but only for a day or two. For example, calling your mom and friends at home to check up on them is fine but if you are too connected to home, you will feel more left out and lonely.

If you dwell on this feeling, you are only hurting yourself. You can start to feel irritable that everyone else is having a good time except for you. Going home and visiting every so often can also be harmful to this coping process because if you are always visiting, you will not give yourself time to have fun in school. You are only going home to miss them all over again.

Try to surround yourself with friends and your new environment. This place will be your home for the next year. Figure out your new go-to place. See what activities there are on campus. Explore clubs you are interested in. If you sit in your dorm thinking how much you miss home, you will make yourself crazy and more depressed.

Junior Kristen Pepe says that making friends will make you feel more at home. Jackie Bristel, junior, says how decorating her dorm made helped her with being homesick. However, Galdim Bardhi sophomore, states how his personal freedom has prevented him from feeling any sorts of homesickness. He also mentions how he has made Bloomsburg his home away from home.

College is a time to have more new experiences. Go out there and enjoy them. We all miss our families but if you let it get to you, you’ll end up miss out on everything around you. Being in college will test your relationships and attachments. It’s a time for you to learn how to become independent and find yourself.