Hey y’all, this one’s for all my freshmen out there—or anyone feeling that college homesickness right now. Sending love your way, cuz I feel you. I remember that feeling.
I had just landed in early September of ’22, fresh off a flight over the Atlantic. (Yerrr! I’m an Int’l kid. Too cool for school, man. Lowkey, I don’t even know why I’m here.) Jk jk lol. Anyway… stepping out of the airport into the endless cornfields of Cedar Rapids had me rethinking all my life choices. For real. I legit asked myself, “What have you done to yourself, bro?!” 😭
College Homesickness Started From the Jump
Getting to campus? That didn’t make things better. I rolled in two weeks into Block 1, meaning I had missed all the orientation events—ISO, EOTO—the whole bonding experience that helped new students make friends. I was also too late to get into an FYS class (not that I’m complaining lmao). But for real, it was rough. I felt like such an outsider, like I didn’t belong. Every day, I’d wake up, grab breakfast (back when the Bon was still Bonning—the food was actually good), then either head back to my room, take a walk, or hang out at the Intercultural Life Department (ICL). That was my routine for the first two weeks. You can imagine how pathetic I felt. Sure, at the time, ICL had my back and I couldn’t have done it without Hemie and Tiyah (The 🐐’s) (if you know you know). I love them to death. There were also chances to connect with people here and there, but I barely knew about them, and the ones I did go to? They just didn’t click for me.
And then there was the cliquey culture. Man, it threw me off. Back in high school, we all knew each other. At the very least, we’d acknowledge each other in the hallways. Cornell? The complete opposite. Everyone was in their little friendship or sports silos, and if you weren’t already part of one, you were basically an outcast. I’m not saying it was wrong, but for me, it hurt. Bad.
It Gets Better
But I’m not here to make you wallow in more college homesickness and sadness lol. I’m here to tell you—it gets better. My rough start might have sucked, but it also forced me to grow. And honestly, that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned at Cornell—one I hope you take with you too.
I always ask Cornellians: What’s our culture? What are we known for? We complain about the hilltop feeling like a cage and how the block plan drains the life out of us so often. And yeah, it’s tough—I know firsthand. But what I wasn’t about to do was waste four years feeling miserable. So I did something about it, because I figured that Cornell College, to a large extent, would be what I make of it.
My friends—Moodi Wael ’26, Tanatswa Hamadziripi ’26, Saad Mankarious ’25, Aras Yilmaz ’26, and Smriti Neupane ’26—and I started the International Students Association. A home away from home. A community to advocate for us and our needs. I remember our first Culture Show during my freshman year. We had no clue what we were doing, but we pulled it off—and it was a banger. Now, three years later with three successful Culture Shows in the bag, the Culture Show is in the news again! (Check out the article here.)
So I Gotta Start a Whole Club?
Nah, bro. Not at all. The real takeaway is the mindset—one that hopes for better but doesn’t stop there. One that actively seeks better. One that creates the change it wants to see. I swear I’m not trying to be inspirational (that last line felt straight outta a Barack Obama speech lol), but I mean it.
Despite my rocky start, I signed up for a music class in Block 2. It wasn’t an instant fix, but I started getting the hang of things. I began understanding my new environment, the people around me, the culture I had become a part of. I took classes that genuinely interested me and made friends along the way. And with that came a sense of belonging. And that’s what we all want, right? To feel like we belong. To feel like our dawgs, girlies, boys, and day-ones are here at the hilltop and have our backs.
So if you’re struggling right now, this post is for you. Take heart, keep grinding—I promise, it gets better. The college homesickness eventually leaves. And if it doesn’t… well, that sucks. Jk jk jk–it will. Lmao.