Admit it, your dorm doesn’t quite feel like home. Before you started this semester, you had all sorts of interior designs for your dorm. You bought posters, mirrors, and a ton of wall art yet somehow you can’t get rid of that horrible, uninviting off-white wall.
Going away to college is hard transition whether you’ve moved up the street, up the coast, or across the country. Regardless of if you are the manliest of men, everyone gets homesick. How do you deal with homesickness? Here are some tips to help you get through those days you literally want to run home.
Keep up with technology
It’s time for you to get a webcam and teach dear old mom and dad how to operate Skype. Keeping in touch with your family is an instant cure for homesickness! Why call your parents when you can video chat them? It’s the quickest way to bring a little piece of home into your dorm!
Snail-mail
Nothing like calling mom and dad, saying you are homesick, and then receiving a good old care package! Call your family and have them send you home baked goods. Maybe ask them to send you a small knick-knack to place in your dorm and remind you of home.
Make a picture wall
Take as many photos from home and of you and your family and place them on your wall. The cheapest way to do this would be to place classic five-by-seven photos on the wall with some painters tape (it won’t take the paint of the walls!). This way, your family is always near!
Go out and have fun
You can’t sit around and be homesick all the time! Go and be friendly! Meet other students on your floor, get involved in student organizations, go out and have a good time. The quicker you create a family of friends, the sooner Gainesville begins to feel like home! Be sure to learn the town and know how to get to all general locations. This will make Gainesville feel smaller and friendlier.
Going away to college is a major transition that takes some getting used to. Give it time and you’ll be a champ at living away and on your own in no time.
