February 21, 2018, by Shweta
Coping With Homesickness While At University
About a year ago, I wrote a post that alluded to the feelings of homesickness that we all face every now and then. At the time, I was still a fresh-faced first year who couldn’t fathom ever seeing Nottingham as home. Fast-forward a year later and I’m now halfway through second year and happier than ever in this city. Over the past few months, I’ve met people and gone places that have made me the person I am today and I am so proud to call not one, but two wonderful cities home. As we draw closer to our Easter break, the thought of spending it in Nottingham made me think more closely about homesickness.
I suppose I should warn you that the title of this post doesn’t have much to do with its content. Talk about click-bait, am I right? However, I don’t want to write yet another post about tackling homesickness when you could find approximately 5 ways repeated over and over and over again across the internet. Rather, I’m here to tell you that the feeling is fluid. It is dynamic. It is temporary.
When I first moved to Nottingham, I couldn’t make my way around my half of residence, let alone all 300 acres of Uni Park. To add to my geographical woes, I was an international student and there were quite a few moments where I simply didn’t understand what was going on. Culture shock is real, people!! When my feelings persisted and “home” was still 4000 miles away, I was quite let down because I assumed I’d have to spend the rest of my 5-year degree living in a place that I wasn’t fully comfortable in. Thankfully, I was wrong. With time, I learnt my way around university. I became friends with the Physics student who made my subway sandwiches and I learnt how to avoid geese attacks. I found my favorite spot in the library and fell in love with the Lotus Biscoff milkshakes at Ed’s Diner. Before I knew it, I was referring to Nottingham as home (much to the dismay of my mother).
Sometimes it feels like university will never feel like home; until it does. So, if you’re ever having a despondent moment (which is totally valid given the weather right now), just know that home doesn’t have to be miles away. Sometimes, home is right where you are.
Until next time,
Shweta
Apologies for the shameless plug but here’s a link to the post I referred to previously: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/studentlife/2017/02/28/inspired-musings-international-student/
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