Ah yes! The excitement of receiving a college acceptance is like none other. You share with your family and friends how excited you are to have the opportunity to go to college. For many people, this starts a new chapter in their life and it may even be life changing. All of this excitement builds up towards move in day and you can’t wait to have a change in scenery. However this change in scenery may cause a bit of a cultural shock. All of those friends that you made in high school are now in different schools and some of your favorite restaurants are no longer near you. This unfamiliarity of a new environment causes many students to experience homesickness. 

The reason I’m interested in this topic is because, like many others, I experienced homesickness when I first moved into the dorms at UC Davis. Coming from the east coast, it was definitely one of the hardest transitions that I have ever experienced in my life. The difference in time zones, being over 1,000 miles away from one of my high school friends, and different town structure are some of the things that were difficult for me to get used to. I didn’t want to accept these new changes because I had been so used to living at home. I felt like I was just getting into a groove with school, social life, and family especially since I turned eighteen and became more mature. However, I’m not the only one who experienced homesickness and a lot of students will experience this. One student on a reddit thread explained that they were so used to having their family around and when they said goodbye, it was a whole new experience living by themselves. Another student explained that the hardest thing for them was seeing their other friends visiting home that was only an hour drive away compared to being over 5 hours away via flight. This is something that I experience as well. Taking 6 hour flights back and forth from home is already a challenge in itself.

Although homesickness is not fun and can be challenging, it doesn’t last forever. The number one thing to remember is that homesickness is completely normal! Over 70% of first year students have or will experience homesickness at some point. One thing that helped ease my way into a new area was by joining a discourse community via an Instagram page with all of the new students at UC Davis. This instagram page posted students from all around the world and allowed the students to introduce themselves to others. By actively engaging with other prospective students, it helped me make new friends before I even moved in! Another thing that helped with my homesickness experience was joining the rugby club and staying busy with new friends. Whether it be rugby practice or going out with some dorm friends, these simple things helped me take my mind off of being away from home and helped with coping with the new environment. Surrounding yourself with other people who might also be experiencing homesickness can help with adventuring a new location and checking out what could be the new ice cream spot. Even though homesickness can be tough at times, it’s not the end of the world. Keeping yourself busy, making new friends, and exploring new locations on campus are some things that you can do during the first months of college. 

One of the things that I would like to learn more about is how international students cope with homesickness. Although I traveled from the east coast which is already a far trip in itself, I can’t imagine how international students deal with traveling to a new country and living there for almost the whole year. For some students they have to learn a new language, understand the culture of a different country, and even eat new food. One student describes that food is a major factor in homesickness for international students. He says that in the beginning of college some students won’t even eat because they are so stressed out and they aren’t used to eating food from a different country. One way that I can explore this practice is by looking for first hand accounts from other students, domestically and internationally. I could ask some of my friends about what they experienced when they first moved in and how they were able to handle the stress and anxiety of being far away from home.