The move from New York to Pennsylvania has definitely been one of the weirdest but best things that has happened to me. On top of that, I have gone from living with my family in New York to living on my own in Pennsylvania, but with a roommate of course.
According to NCBI, “the millions of students that leave home for college each year may be particularly susceptible to experiencing homesickness.”
According to a survey by the UCLA Higher Education Institute, “69 percent of first year college students report feeling homesick.”
I remember my first few nights living here at Cabrini were the hardest. Most of the people that attend this school are either from Philadelphia or New Jersey. This is currently my sophomore year at Cabrini and I still have not met many people from my home state, New York.
My roommate from freshman year was from New York also, but he was from Syracuse, New York and I am from Long Island, New York, which is almost like two totally separate states. Syracuse is up
state New York and I was closer to New York City.
Even though I lived home with family, all of my siblings were older than me and moved out already so I’ve always had my own room and my own space. Sharing a room with a roommate was definitely brand new and an adjustment.
As the days went on, I started to feel more and more depressed because I was having huge withdrawals from seeing my friends, family and even my own bed from being away from them for so long. Days felt like years and it did not help the fact that my family and friends would call me almost every day to check up on me and tell me that they missed me which felt great to be missed but it also made me feel worse in a sense.
One resource that has helped me get over my homesickness is Cabrini’s counseling and psychological services located in Grace Hall. They provided a safe space for me to talk and express how I felt at the moment. Stressed, sad and scared are a few words that described how I felt at the moment but most importantly, I was also happy to be able to be one step closer to my career, try new things, make new friends and step out of my comfort zone.
According to apa.org, “48.7 percent of students have attended counseling for mental health concerns in the 2012 to 2013 school year.”
After a few counseling sessions, I got out of my shell and I started going to more events on campus while of course staying on top of my school work. It was such a huge adjustment that I am so glad that I got through.
Homesickness was not the only obstacle that I had to overcome. The language was another hitch in my transition.
Growing up in New York, you get accustomed to so much slang and vocabulary that it is almost like its own language. New York City and Philly are two urban communities that each have their own slang.
Since the majority of students that go here are from Philly, their slang took me a while to get used to. It’s funny because in New York we use the word “jawn” to refer to a beautiful or pretty girl while in Philly a “jawn” literally anything.
Homesickness is definitely an obstacle that most college have to overcome, especially first year students. Homesickness can cause you to withdraw from campus activities, stop you from going to classes, procrastinate and even lose contact with friends and family.
Adjusting to my new environment has been a struggle but it feels amazing now that I’ve overcame this obstacle.
