Homesick After Returning To University? Here's What To Do

By Sophia Mold, MA Creative Writing at University of Lincoln

Had a great time with friends and family while visiting your hometown for a while over the holidays, and feeling a bit homesick now you've returned to university?

It's totally normal, especially in these dark, winter days when there's not much to get out and do to fill up your free time!

Hopefully this advice will help you to deal with your feelings of homesickness.

Wallow in it (for a bit)

It's so important that you don't beat yourself up about feeling homesick!

It's normal, and we've all felt it. Let yourself be homesick, maybe have a little cry, eat some comfort food, but put a time limit on it.

Allow yourself 24 hours, or a few days, and then get back out into your new environment!

Get used to your surroundings

Explore your area and neighbourhood more.

Maybe you checked out the main hotspots near you when you first started university, but head back out when you return and re-familiarise yourself with the area or even scope out new restaurants, food stores, book shops, coffee shops, bars, or parks and other areas.

The more you familiarise yourself with and experience your home away from home, the less you will miss what you've left behind.

Make your space more 'you'

One great thing about living in your own place is that you can decorate it however you want.

Make the most of that freedom when you head back to uni and make your accommodation feel as comfortable and homely as possible!

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Keep in touch

One of the best ways to stop feeling so homesick is to keep in contact with your family and friends from back home.

Make sure you give them a ring, or video call, every now and again, so that you don't feel like you're missing out or missing them!

But make sure you don't get to the point where you're communicating more with people from your hometown than you are with people at uni, as this can just make you feel the distance more.

Make new friends

As well as keeping in touch with your hometown friends, don't forget about all the new people you met in your first term at university.

Be sure to be social, make new memories with new people, and build the relationships you have in your new home. If you didn't in first term, then why not join a society or try a new sport?

This will make your university home feel much more welcoming!

Plan a visit home

Plan a trip back home to see your family and friends and catch up.

Planning a trip in advance will mean that you can look forward to it and it will give you a definitive time that you will get to visit, so that you don't have to wonder when you will be able to see everyone again.

This will also curb the urge to visit home impulsively and allow you to focus on your goals and university work.

Hopefully these things can help you re-adjust to living away from home and deal with the homesickness that inevitably comes along with that, allowing you to settle back in and enjoy your university experience!

Need some more back-to-uni advice? Find out which superfoods you should be eating to get through your studying.