Oh no! You’re homesick. Now what?

Missing home is a natural reaction to your first week, month, semester, or even year at college, and it can be complex. If you love your hometown but chose a school that’s further away in a bustling city such as this one, the unfamiliar and somewhat chaotic environment can cause a lot of unease. Even if you despise your hometown and came to college searching for an out, it can still be an intense transition. Some people never fully overcome homesickness throughout their undergraduate careers; it settles in at specific times, like when it gets colder or during finals, or it can be catalyzed by common experiences like unsuccessful attempts at finding your communities on campus. 

Here are some possible remedies for your homesickness.

1. Bring something that reminds you of home: Keeping in mind the size of your dorm, I encourage you to bring something small—maybe a trinket from your home desk, something a friend made for you, or even a beloved copy of your favorite book. Having a constant visual reminder of home to ease homesickness may seem counterintuitive, but it can also be comforting to realize that the things that brought you comfort at home are never that far away.

2. Continue your favorite hobbies: Moving from your hometown to a large city (even if your home city is also large) can feel like a massive upheaval. New York is a distinct place, and there aren’t many places like it. Combined with the pressures of being around a new group of people, this can make you feel like everything about your environment, your interests, and your world has to change—but it doesn’t! You might feel pressure to reinvent yourself, but don’t remove the things that make you happy. If you like collecting items, embroidery, or making award season prediction lists, keep doing those activities! There is comfort in the familiarity of consistent hobbies.

3. Find your communities on campus: Find your people! University students have a multitude of interests, and if you enjoy or are interested in something, there is a group for it! Searching through lists and lists of student organizations can feel daunting when you’re a person with many interests. Between your new courses and your social life, it can be difficult to imagine managing your time with student organization involvement, but if you like something, you will figure it out. Some undergraduate organizations can be somewhat selective, but don’t let that discourage you from applying for or joining as many as possible. You can whittle down your list later as your priorities naturally present themselves and change. Clubs are an excellent way to make new friends who share your interests like your home friends do.

4. Look around you: The more familiar you are with your new surroundings, the less terrifying they become. Explore the neighborhood! Go try a new restaurant with a friend, explore parks, go see a play, and stay on the lookout for places and events you might enjoy! Take steps to learn about and explore your new neighborhood. 

5. Stay well: This is perhaps the most important antidote. The anxiety of being away from home can affect you in physiological ways that exacerbate the initial homesickness. You might not sleep as well as you used to at home. The foods you eat may be reminders of how far away you are, and your new schedule will change up your usual routines. I encourage you to take control of your new schedule. Eating, sleeping well, and staying mentally and physically active can boost your mood and allow you to overcome your homesickness more easily and offer a steady internal environment to combat the external pressures causing your homesickness.

Understanding why you have homesickness can be vital to helping you solve the problem. You don’t have to psychoanalyze yourself. Try to reflect and think about what you miss most about home. Friend-making at college is proving to be difficult? Call up an old friend. Missing your family? Find ways to make sure you consistently stay in touch with them among the busyness of your courses and extracurriculars. Lastly, I encourage you to be vocal about missing home. You are not alone in this experience, and talking to someone about it might bring some relief and hopefully make you feel less isolated.

Lyrics from Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A” typed via Bwog Staff.