Wednesday, September 1. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Students battle homesick blues
By Amber Steuer writer @kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Swirling in a wave of change, many new students are still fending off feelings of homesickness and are grasping for something comfortable.
"In general, the concern about homesickness is really rooted in missing the familiar," said Francis DeSalvo, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Watkins Memorial Health Center. "It can be missing relationships, familiar surroundings, missing contact with important support people. It can be having difficulty developing new support systems and also missing the familiar in terms of a lack of structure."
In the second full week of classes, many new students are still adjusting to the changes that come with uprooting to a new environment. For most, however, homesick feelings that can manifest into anxiety or depression won't last long, DeSalvo said.
Tera Lee Hedrick, Wichita freshman, said she had felt homesick since coming to the University of Kansas but had adjusted well.
"I think I'm just homesick for my friends and my family and my dog and things that are comfortable," she said. "I try to email or phone and do things with people. If you're just sitting in your room or alone, it makes you feel worse."
DeSalvo agreed that the best way to deal with homesickness was to make connections with new people by going to class, joining a club or getting involved with a living organization.
"In general, the idea is to develop a structure or support system that's as good or better than the one you came from," he said.
Homesickness can develop into depression, marked by symptoms of changes in sleep.
HOMESICKNESS TIPS
If it helps, call or go home as much as you feel necessary in the first few weeks.
Don't take it personally if your
Don't take it personally if your room at home changes. Home will still work.
Eat healthy food and exercise to give yourself a healthier body and frame of mind.
Find new places to go and things to do.
Give structure to your life by keeping a schedule of classes, study time and leisure time
time, work and tenure time.
Find things to look forward to,
Find things to look forward to,
whether it's your hometown news-
paper subscription in the mail or a
weekly campus activity.
Find others who are going through or have been through the same adjustments you are making.
Look at being away from home as an opportunity to develop new skills and interests.
ing or eating habits, prolonged crying spells, pessimistic thinking for more than a few days and difficulty concentrating. If these symptoms arise, a student should seek help at Counseling and Psychological Services, located on the second floor of Watkins.
However, DeSalvo said that not all prolonged unhappiness could be credited to homesickness.
Erin Hornick, Deerfield, ill., junior, was unhappy at two universities before coming to the University of Kansas.
"I was away from home before, but it was different," Hornick said. "I felt more comfortable here because of the people I became friends with and having my brother nearby."
Hornick went to Ohio University and Bradley University before transferring to KU. However, she said transferring wasn't the answer for most.
"If you can see yourself there, I think maybe you should give it time," Hornick said. "But I knew I wouldn't be comfortable there for four years."
—Edited by Allan Davis
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