Homesick: The Best Remedies

Today was a super stressful day with multiple things that happened within about 30 minutes.  Let me give y'all a little background first.  I am involved in an organization on campus called GIVE.  Our mission statement says, "Give love, give hope, give back".  We are basically a community service organization on campus that helps other members of our community as well as other organizations within WSU.  This past Thursday, I was basically thrown into the position as Treasurer.  I did not mind because I had been wanting a position of leadership and was pleased to receive one.  The old treasurer told me that she would go over everything with me and transition me into the position.  Well this morning, I got a call saying that our t-shirts that we got last year for an event this year were screwed up and that we needed them fixed by next Monday.  I had no idea what I was doing.  The president of GIVE is super helpful though and helped me as much as she could.  I knew that I had a deadline to get our budget proposal cleared and that was by 3:00 pm today.  I got this call at 11:00 am this morning and still needed to take a shower, go to class, finish my study abroad application, read for class, and go to the study abroad office.  All of this had to be done before chapter tonight, which was at 5:00 pm.  I was stressed out and to the point of tears.  The only place where I wanted to be then was at home with my parents.  I called my Mom immediately because I knew that she would be able to calm me down and talk some sense into me.  She did just that and told me to take some deep breaths.  Needless to say, I got everything accomplished, plus some other things done as well for GIVE.

I have been here at school for over 5 weeks now.  I know that doesn't seem very long, but being so far away from home intensifies it.  I see a lot of my sisters with their parents and friends from home on the weekend and it makes me sad that my parents can't just hop in the car and be here in a couple of hours. It takes about 36 hours to drive from Cincinnati to Pullman and about 8 hours to fly here.  We are 3 time zones apart.  My parents are coming in a week from this coming Friday for Homecoming weekend, which makes me really happy!  I think that because their visit is so close, I am anticipating their arrival and making my self even more homesick.

I thought that I would share with you some tips that make me feel better when I am missing home the most:

1) KEEP CALM AND CALL YOUR MOM

        This really does work.  If you are not very close with your mom, but have another person that makes you sane, then call them instead.  Talking to someone from home helps me all the time.

2) SKYPE

 
     Maybe you are a visual person and you need to see the person that makes you sane in order for them to help.  Skype is free and super easy to use! My Mom can use it and she is not very computer savvy.

3) SAY YES TO EVERYTHING.  Try new things with friends that will get the homesickness off of your mind.  Do activities that you know that you enjoy that will make you think of other thoughts.  The most important thing of all is to not dwell on that fact that you are homesick.  That is the worst.

4) GO FOR A DRIVE.

     Tonight, one of my sisters and myself went to a place here in Pullman called 'Cougar Country' where we got juicy hamburgers, french fries, and giant sweet teas.  We carried the food out and got in her car and drove until we found an interesting place to sit and eat.  We ended up finding an elementary school with lights on inside where we saw a bunch of older people taking ballroom dance lessons.  This might sound crazy, but we sat and watched them for about an hour while we ate and then we just drove.  We drove all around the town with the windows down, music up, and the heat blasting because it was a cold night.  We just rode in a nice peaceful silence for about an hour.  It was so relaxing and nice.  It was just what I needed after such a stressful day.  It got my mind off of things and I just was not having any cares for a while.  We decided to make this a weekly occurrence and find a new spot every time to eat at.

I feel so much better tonight and I am looking forward to seeing my parents, without being too anxious.  If anyone has any other homesick remedies that work really well, let me know!  I am always looking for something to get that topic off of my mind!  Have a great week :)

Xx, Katie