Going into the sixth week of the semester, most students have been living on campus for just over a month now. For many, this newfound independence is exciting, but many have also come face to face with something worse: homesickness.

For many new students, this is the longest they’ve ever been away from their home and their family. While students can always call their families or go home for the weekend, the fact remains that from now on, they’re out on their own, which can be a scary and overwhelming thing.

Several students experiencing homesickness explained how they’re feeling and, most importantly, how they’re coping with it.

Asif Ali, a graduate student studying bioinformatics

“I’m from a different country, so it kind of hit hard, but only after the first three weeks. The first few were like the honeymoon phase, everything is new, everything is very endearing, and I was into being in a new place. But I think being away from my family and friends, for such an extended amount of time, I’m really missing them. But not only that, the places I used to live in, I’m missing those.

“I usually never listen to songs from my own language when I was back home, but as soon as I got here, I’m just craving speaking my native language. I do call my family a lot, I get to speak in my native language whenever I talk to them — that really helps. I think being in touch with your family and friends back home is like a huge thing. That really helps with homesickness.”

Marileslie Galindo, junior in LAS

“I feel like because of the pandemic, I became very family oriented. For two years, I was with my family the whole time. So I kind of got used to that environment of being around my family the whole time, even though beforehand, I was always with them. So I very much miss my family and the city because I could explore more over there than over here, where I’m very limited to what I can do.

“Almost every other weekend, I go home. So I leave usually on Fridays, and then I’ll come back on Mondays. Almost every weekend, I go home to visit my family. And when I can’t, I usually try to occupy myself with like doing chores, doing cleaning, watching TV or just trying to get it off my mind that I miss my house and my family.”

Olivia Merrell, freshman in ACES

“I was very close with my family, and I also come from a small town. So coming to a large campus where I know absolutely no one has definitely been an adjustment for me. I do miss my family, but it also feels like this great opportunity to meet new people here. But doing so has been hard because, again, coming from such a small town, you’re kind of forced back to square one in those relationships.

“I’ve been trying to kind of just form those new bonds here. So I’ve been attending RSO meetings, trying to attend events that are happening in my hall. My roommate and I met our next door neighbors and we actually made slime with them.”

Morgan Pullara, senior in LAS

“I have a pretty tight-knit family — we’re all very close. I say that I’m honestly experiencing (homesickness) right now. I really haven’t been home in almost two months, which is probably like the longest I really haven’t seen my family in I don’t even know how long. So yeah, I definitely still do now as a senior.

“My best advice for homesickness freshman year is you need to stay at school as long as possible … I just feel like you need to set yourself a goal, to stay there for like, half the semester, a month or two, something more long term so you can actually get used to it before just seeing them and then getting ripped away from them again.”

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