The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

It’s OK to be homesick

The night before I moved back into school this year, I cried. A lot. This was very confusing for me because I was under the impression that, as a sophomore who is admittedly obsessed with her school, I would have no problem leaving my hometown behind to tackle round two at Quinnipiac. Yet while I was excited to be living with my best friends and returning to a course load that I found genuinely stimulating, I found myself filled with anxiety and crying as I said goodbye to my brothers and parents and voyaged back to Hamden.

It seemed like a common phenomenon during freshman year: hallways filled with students calling their parents, long distance FaceTime calls with best friends from home, and frequent visits back to hometowns to return to hot, home-cooked meals. However, my understanding was that sophomores were supposed to assimilate easily and integrate back into the school year without so much as a second thought, hence the confusion about my apprehension for moving back in.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense for me to be upset despite the fact that I was now a college veteran. Home, for most people, represents a safe haven. Home is somewhere where I can feel freely. I don’t have to worry about acting a certain way or feeling a certain way in the presence of roommates. I am also surrounded by people who have known me my whole life; people who understand how I live, and know and understand who I was before college. This is a luxury that is hard to come by within the confines of a residence hall.

When entering freshman year, there is a large unknown variable. Freshmen are forced to compare their expectations to media, going into their experience blindly. However as a returning student, the unknown becomes known. This is great in terms of social life. Rather than worry endlessly about whether I would have friends, I came into sophomore year knowing that I would, which alleviated a lot of previous college anxiety. However, in knowing there comes a lack of blissful ignorance. I knew how stressful classes could be this time around and therefore felt apprehensive about returning to academics. I knew that I would miss my family, which made leaving even harder. These are all facets that presented themselves after freshman year and contributed to my feelings of homesickness.

So, I have decided that although I love my school and all that I am learning and involved with, it is OK for me to feel homesick. It means that I have an amazing place to return to every summer. I am loved by those in my hometown and I love being there. Rather than being somebody who has no intention of looking back towards my roots, I embrace where I came from and look forward to the times I get to return. It doesn’t matter that I am a sophomore, or that I am happy here and love my Quinnipiac experience. It simply means I am lucky enough to have two places each year to be sad to leave, and excited to return to.

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