College and homesickness

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so i'm only an hour and a half away from home and am experiencing extreme homesickness. i'm leaving here next semester because i can't stand studio art classes(my major is studio art: photography), not being in new orleans etc. my mother is afraid for me as well and i call her every night telling her what's happening each day. it's helping but i just can't do this anymore. i'm suffocating at this large university and this sea of people. i already knew i hated the city the university is in but i still came here...i just wanted to get out the house. i'm done with that deal now. also i'm living with my brother and he's pushing me to finish the semester. i hate my stupid painting teacher and his ability to explain projects well to me. i'm like the dumbest person in that class. i can't drop out....i have nine more weeks. i'm just afraid of how much harder the work will get.

has anyone else had this problem?

Aw, tinky, try to hang in there. It's only nine more weeks. All of us who have gone to college have had truly bad professors. You just do the best you can and get the grade you get.

My husband refuses to watch the TV show House, because he had professors like House and he hated them. Obviously passionately.

Thank you for the response. I keep waking up in the morning realizing that i'm still here. It's really hard just getting out of bed and going to class in the morning. I'm going to see a school counselor tomorrow morning. I'm not sure if he'll be able to help but it's the best i've got. Every week i count down the days until thursday night when i finally leave and go back home till sunday. i I just miss my family and new orleans soooo much.

What also scares me is how i feel as though my youth is just passing me by as i try to finish school work(which isn't amazing to begin with). People say that college is supposed to be the best time of your life but i'm not feeling it. if this is the best time then i can't imagine what happens later on...

When I first entered university I felt homesick too. Probably because I didn't make many friends but then I got used to it after a while. As for classes, I was originally in mathematical physics which I now hate. I'm switching to Honours Science and I'm starting in this new program in May.

Best years? I don't think so. Best years start after 50 if you are still healthy.
Myself, I nearly had a nervous breakdown the last year of college. The Pill did bad things to my brain and the recurring depression hit at the same time. But I got my degree.

Come on, just nine more weeks and you will learn that you can do tough things. Hang in there. You're another day closer.

Wow, Tinky. Although our situations are not identical, the end result sounds similar. I just recently came to the decision that I am going to have to give up my dream of getting my degree at my current (huge) university. There are many reasons, but homesickness and massive sensory overload are the biggest ones. I hear ya on the not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. I am also completely exhausted and miserable when my school day is done. Now that I know this is my last semester, I feel a little better now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My last day of school is May 7--what's yours? I am counting down the days, but 66 is too huge a number, so instead I'm counting until spring break. Eleven days sounds much more manageable. Your idea of counting down until each Thursday is really good. In addition to that, try not to think about the TOTAL number of days. Just keep going 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; etc. (I cannot take credit for that idea--it was my counselor's.) Speaking of counselors, I am glad that you are going to see one. Hope the person works out well and can guide you through to the end. If not, don't be afraid to seek out someone else who can support you.

The advice I am giving you is also the advice I am trying to remember to give myself. It's always easier to say it to someone else than to practice it myself, LOL. Try your best to be gentle with yourself. Drink lots of water, eat lots of fruits and veggies instead of candy or chips, and try to get at least some exercise in each day, even if it's only a short walk.

Please don't let other people define what the "best time of your life" is supposed to be! I had that line pulled on me all the time in high school, and my reaction was exactly the same as yours. The people who support me in my current struggles are telling me that I will find my own path in life that I am meant to walk, and so what if it's not like most people's?

Also, youth only passes you by if you allow it to do so, and you can choose to remain young regardless of your date of birth. I am chronologically 44 and still very much in my youth.

Remember, as I keep reminding myself, THIS IS TEMPORARY. Take things hour by hour, minute by minute if you have to. You can get a lot of support on WP as well. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep me updated on how you are doing. You can get through this. We can get through this!

wow thank you all for the responses.
i am actually counting the days down to spring break as well. that is in...28 days i believe. after that school starts on the twelfth and then like 18 days later it's may and then that week is finals week.
my last day is beautiful may 8...i cannot wait one bit.
the amount of responsibility put on studio art courses here is just ridiculous
we're expected to take the same amount of classes but do more work and the each studio art class is three hours long(15 minute break at 90 min. mark). in addition studio art majors have to get into the school of art and design here(school within a school) in order to get accepted into their major. in addition to that i'm finding myself slightly uninterested in my photography major. i carrry around my camera with me where ever i go to take pictures and i love photography so much but i'm not enjoying being graded on my pictures. i really want a career in photography but this class is really annoying.
in additional i have financial aid so i have to keep my grade above a 2.5 or i lose financial.

i'm going to a college near my home so i'll stop calling my mother in tears every day about how i miss home and how i can't wait for thursday so i can leave this place. that's what is also causing me stress. i'm seeing the counselor tomorrow morning.
it's good to know i'm not the only one like this, riversparks

The counselor just gave me some breathing techniques. it helped me calm down but i told him that only thing that would help me is getting the work done and getting out of this place. i feel like it keeps getting worse. i'm not even sure if i should have chosen this photography major as i'm just not enjoying it right now. i'm sad and annoyed with the fact that i'm still at this place. i should have just gone somewhere for my second semester.

so if anything happens to make me think otherwise, then i won't be dropping my painting class. what i see now is dropping painting and dropping to nine hours making me a part time student. i won't be able to see the counselor for free anymore but i think i'm seeing because of this painting class. i'll try a bit more in the class but i'm hopefully going to send in a form stating that this painting class has caused me extreme mental exhaustion(anxiety, depression) to the financial aid people so i can keep my TOPs(financial aid in louisiana). it's possible to keep TOPs as a part student in this way. i'm seeing my psychiatrist on friday and hopefully i can get her to sign the form. everyone in the class is working ridiculously faster than me and i'm not able to safely take my work home with me as we're using thicker oil paint now(which can take a four days to dry even it's put on thinly). i don't feel at home here anymore. my home is new orleans. i want to take pictures of new orleans and i don't feel as inspired here. gah, i have photography class now. she's giving us our next assignment. i'm so afraid.

Hey tinky I live at a college, started in 2008, and still here. It's about 4 hours away from home, and i started doing an engineering/technology degree and my first semester at college sucked. I got bagged out for being a female engineer, forced to drink lots (never been drunk until i came to college), left out of sporting events, and i just generally hated it, and hated uni. I went home every chance i could. I decided there was no point to doing a degree which i hated, so half way through 08 i changed to chemistry (I'm Australian, so we start uni in feb and 1st semsester goes from feb-june). Things gradually picked up after that, i enjoyed uni, grew a thick skin, and made friends who were interested (and not interested!) in things i was/ wasn't. I was also the dumbest engineer and hated various lecturers.

I can give you some advice if you like. Firstly, try to make friends. This is hard and intimidating at first!! ! But go sit with randoms and say hi. My friends really helped because they also hated the things i hated at college, and some of them were from overseas etc so it made my situation seem so less s**t e.g. i could go home on holidays, they couldn't. They were also a group of shy nerdy people - like me! Secondly, if studying what you're studying makes you unhappy, don't do it. You will be much happier doing something you love And thirdly, like your brother says, finish the semester. You never know, you may end up liking it.

oh and you're responsible for what part of your life is the best part, not some f**k wit trying to tell you how to live your life. At the same time, you are the only person who's going to make you happy, so if you want college to be the best part of your life, get started soon cause it don't last long!

-Cad

my parents may or may not want to move to the country in five or so years. if i can't become more established in new orleans with photography then i'll be useless. this career as it is doesn't seem to be headed anywhere but i'll try to build myself up.
all of my emotional support is coming from my family and random students who i keep talking to about my situation. without my brother here i don't know how i would have gotten through this semester. i do talk to people regularly and have a lot acquaintances on campus.

also, i've heard that the logic classes at my college are difficult. a photography student is taking one right now and she hates the class. i can either take math or logic. the math program at this university is ridiculous. i started to take it at the beginning of this semester and the work load completely overwhelmed me. i eventually dropped the class and picked up english: ethics, responsibility, and culture. this english class is work but it's not impossible and can be quite interesting. the teacher is really nice and slightly over qualified for the job.

sigh....my photography class is bumming me out. i'm overall glad with what i did on the last assignment but... the teacher told us "i'll be grading your projects harshly. i will not be giving out A's for a while."
i almost crawled inside of myself right there. she's a nice person but that doesn't me distract from the fact that she's unnecessarily grading us harshly. why not grade us with an understanding that this is a beginner course?
i just don't want to do this anymore but i have to. i can't just give up.

I know this is an old thread but I bumped it up because your college experience sounds pretty similar to mine. I'm further away from home than you are, and I had terrible, paralyzing homesickness. I still wish I had stayed closer to home for school, but I'm almost finished now, and I wanted to tell you that I believe in you!

I'm done on May 8, as well. I assume that it really sucks right now, but hang in there! May 8 is coming, and it will be beautiful for us both! I'm not ashamed to admit that I plan to cry tears of happiness as I watch the town in which my university is located fade from view and contemplate never, ever having to come back here again.

I also wanted to say that no matter what other people might try to tell you, disliking your college experience and feeling homesick is NOT your fault, and does not reflect your worth as a person. I feel sometimes like people blame me for not having the time of my life here, as though I could have tried harder to convince myself that I was enjoying it. Obviously, I can't speak for you, but I think that with my rather poor social skills, I was unprepared for the types of peer interactions that are requisite at college, which made things more difficult. I also think that sometimes a school is just a poor fit for a particular student, which was absolutely the case for me. This may sound silly, but there is no shame in not fitting in; it just works out that way sometimes. Don't let this bad experience cause you to doubt yourself.

Keep going! You CAN do it! Only a few more days to go!

We're on the homestretch now, people, and the countdown continues to shrink... )

Once you get a bit of a life of your own, home doesn't feel like such a great place.

Everyone (even NTs) find it hard to leave the familiar.