The Rocket

Issue date: 3/3/06 Section: Opinion

Amy Kelly - Staff Writer

When you live at home all your life, you can't wait to get out, but once you are out, sometimes you can't wait to get back.

Homesickness is one of the problems that college students have to face. Whether it's missing your family, your house, your hometown or even just your friends, everyone experiences it at some point. Sometimes it is not that bad if you live closer to your college, but what if you can't go home until big breaks?

There are many people who I know up here at Slippery Rock University who never get to go home until they are forced out of the dorms. I find that aspect of college life makes the entire college experience worse, because you are stuck at school while all your friends get to go home. All you have to keep yourself company is your computer or the crazy person down the hall.

Granted, sometimes you get to talk to your friends online, on the phone or when you both are on break. But that particular friendship will never be the same as it was before college, unless you are one of the lucky people who go to college with your high school buddies. But few students get that opportunity. Sometimes people do want to move on from their old friends, and that's great, but it can be hard sometimes.

Many students say they don't get homesick, whether it is because of having a bad experience at home, or just because they would rather be out on their own. I don't think that's really the case. Everyone gets homesick at some point. Everybody has days when you think about what it would be like to snuggle up into your own bed at home, or even think about all the great times you had with your friends from high school. Some people tend to place homesickness with family, but that's not always right.

Personally, I do get homesick when I think about my friends, but mostly I miss my family. There are many people here on campus who can relate. Having your mom or dad take care of you when you are sick, or being able to enjoy a home-cooked meal are the things that you really don't think about until you are out on your own.

All of these mostly apply to students who live in the dorms, because the ones who have apartments are starting to develop on their own. However, many upper-classmen do go home regularly. From personal experience, being away from home really helps you start to grow and become your own person. You find new friends, but you never forget about the old ones. You also learn to do things on your own, and you start to take better care of yourself.

But one thing is for sure: you will always remember and miss where you came from.

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