How To Deal With Reverse Homesickness

So you’ve finished your first year of college! You’re relieved, excited, and filled with pride (hopefully) at your academic accomplishment. You say goodbye to your friends at school, and make the journey home.

By Ccandyjessne

For me, that journey home was pretty long: 1330.45 miles, if we’re being exact. And after two weeks at home, and that initial joyful reunion with my friends from high school, I am suffering from a major case of reverse homesickness.

During my first semester of school, all I wanted to do was go back to Florida, transfer to a school where academics are often neglected for tanning and water sports, despite the fact that I had come to Boston to get away from such a scenario. Nonetheless, I was ready to throw in the towel and head back home.

Second semester, however, I really began to find my footing at school, and I had a wonderful time. I did well in all my classes, fell into a groove that enabled me to balance my academic goals with some semblance of a social life, and participated in our school’s spring musical. My last night in Boston was the night of our cast party, which was not short on the debauchery or tearful goodbyes.

Suffice it to say, when I arrived home, I was feeling a little morose. I wasn’t going to see anyone from Boston until September! And now, as a couple weeks have passed and it’s getting stiflingly hot here, I miss Boston and my school friends like nobody’s business. I’ve even come to miss the simplicity of my tiny freshman double, the greasy food at our dining hall, even the drunken frat boys screaming outside my window at 3 in the morning on a Thursday night…I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

So, partly for my sanity, and partly for yours, I’m come up with a few ways to avoid, or at least diminish, that reverse homesickness.

1. Get a job/volunteer: Now, I know the majority of you will do this anyway, but seriously, it has basically saved me these past couple days. A job, no matter how miserable it is, will keep you from sitting at home all day, looking longingly at pictures of your college exploits on Facebook for hours straight. And, if it is miserable, it will give you something to focus on besides your missing friends and school life.

2. Reconnect with old friends from high school: You know you haven’t kept in touch with people this year. Not everyone, at least. Your best friends got some calls and a lot of emails and such, but some of your other friends probably got completely neglected. Now is the time to call them up and plan something to catch up. And if you’re both suffering from reverse homesickness, you can commiserate together.

3. Keep in touch…but not too much: Facebook is a great invention. You and your school friends can check in periodically, just to keep that connection established and to keep up with each other’s lives. Don’t, however, neglect everything to talk for hours on the phone to various friends from school. You both have lives to live, and this dependency is NOT healthy. I’m speaking from experience here people, just trust me.

4. Just have a good summer! It’s really as simple as that. If you’re dynamic, and make your summer amazing, it will be easier to not focus so much on how you miss everything about your school. Go