Homesickness
HOMESICKNESS
INTRO:
A very good morning to our lecturer and my fellow audience. Today, I would like to deliver a speech on a topic that is “homesickness.”
If you’re at university for the first time and feeling homesick, you’re certainly not alone. The definition of homesickness is longing for home and family while absent from them. Research shows that 50-70% of new United Kingdom students suffer from homesickness within their first two or three weeks. Most students find their symptoms begin to fade after the third week. Many university students, particularly during their first year, experience distress about being separated from family and community. “Homesickness” is a normal part of college students’ development toward adulthood. Such feelings should be acknowledged and accepted, even when uncomfortable. Lonely feelings can tell you to recognize certain needs and to figure out constructive ways to satisfy them.
While you may be tempted to “escape” by moving back home, a certain amount of enduring and working through such feelings helps you grow into maturity. For instance, while a visit home may help you feel more nurtured and connected, if you come home every weekend, then you are probably missing out on opportunities to cultivate a social life and sense of belonging at university. Therefore, one way to help yourself is by balancing emotional support with encouragement to develop your life. No matter how isolated you feel, loneliness will lessen or disappear if you actively seek out opportunities to make new friends and develop and express your interests.
FACTORS
1. Experience Factors
In studies of children at summer camps and boarding schools, the experience factors most predictive of homesickness are little previous experience away from home, little or no previous experience at the camp or school, and young age.5,37 Age, of course, is often a proxy for experience, which is the more powerful predictor. For example, an 8-year-old with lots of
INTRO:
A very good morning to our lecturer and my fellow audience. Today, I would like to deliver a speech on a topic that is “homesickness.”
If you’re at university for the first time and feeling homesick, you’re certainly not alone. The definition of homesickness is longing for home and family while absent from them. Research shows that 50-70% of new United Kingdom students suffer from homesickness within their first two or three weeks. Most students find their symptoms begin to fade after the third week. Many university students, particularly during their first year, experience distress about being separated from family and community. “Homesickness” is a normal part of college students’ development toward adulthood. Such feelings should be acknowledged and accepted, even when uncomfortable. Lonely feelings can tell you to recognize certain needs and to figure out constructive ways to satisfy them.
While you may be tempted to “escape” by moving back home, a certain amount of enduring and working through such feelings helps you grow into maturity. For instance, while a visit home may help you feel more nurtured and connected, if you come home every weekend, then you are probably missing out on opportunities to cultivate a social life and sense of belonging at university. Therefore, one way to help yourself is by balancing emotional support with encouragement to develop your life. No matter how isolated you feel, loneliness will lessen or disappear if you actively seek out opportunities to make new friends and develop and express your interests.
FACTORS
1. Experience Factors
In studies of children at summer camps and boarding schools, the experience factors most predictive of homesickness are little previous experience away from home, little or no previous experience at the camp or school, and young age.5,37 Age, of course, is often a proxy for experience, which is the more powerful predictor. For example, an 8-year-old with lots of