Homesickness. Any incoming first year is familiar with the term. Whether you’re counting down the days until college freedom or endlessly scrolling through videos on how to cope with it (I was the latter), homesickness is something nearly all college students experience.
Whether it means building your own coping mechanisms, leaning on Bates’ support system or turning to your new college friends, remember this: It is normal, and you will work through it.
Your first month will likely feel like a whirlwind of events, meeting new people and making new friends. While you will often hear the routine advice to “say yes to everything” (and I 100% agree with that advice), I also encourage you to find time to reset and reflect. Orientation week and the first few weeks of college are exciting, but they’re also an opportunity to begin carving out space in your schedule for yourself.
Understanding the resources available for you is key, and one of Bates’ best qualities is how deeply it supports first-years, especially through low-pressure peer-mentoring.
Junior Advisors (JA’s) live on every floor and are incredible resources. As fellow students who were once in your exact same positions, they’re in a unique position to help guide you through your first year of college.
All Entering Students Orientation Programs (AESOP) leaders are also great to look to, especially during your orientation trips.
If homesickness continues to surface, there are more formal options too: Bates’ Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) are available to all students, and Uwill offers 24/7 virtual counseling.
Throughout my time at Bates, I have found that it is nearly impossible to predict how your year, or even your day will unfold. But the one constant has been my friends, my support group and more often than not, the people I call ‘home’.
If there was one piece of advice I would offer to first-years, it would be this: prioritize finding your people. When it’s a late night before your final, or when the dorm washing machine is broken again or when feelings of homesickness creep in– those are the people who will carry you through. And for the next four years, they’ll be your home away from home.
As a senior, I find myself spending summers counting down the days until I’m back in Lewiston. Sure, there are still moments where I miss the warmth of California and being able to walk down the hall to my sibling’s room.
More often than not, however, what I feel is pride– pride in having pushed myself to move somewhere new. While I’ll always miss the small town I grew up in, I now smile knowing I can say: “I’ve found a new place to be from.”
