Coping With Homesickness Tip #1

This tip will hopefully be useful to those of you living in a dorm (or sharing a room) and those of you with a single room. I personally have a single room, but you can still do this in your area of a shared room, or talk to your room-mate and try to do this together! My tip is, to make your room as cosy as possible.


By this I mean, make it a space that you feel happy when you see. Make it feel like 'your' room. I know this can be really hard when the whole place you're in just feels wrong to you and you'd rather be anywhere but there! Trust me, I know. It took me a little while to get this right, but as soon as you get it right, everything gets so much easier to deal with! Suddenly you have this little haven that you can escape to when everything else gets too much. You have somewhere that feels separate from everything else, because it is yours.


To make your room feel like 'yours', here are some things you could do to your room:

• Get a rug. This made the world of difference with making my room feel cosier and more like someone lived there! It doesn't matter if you don't have much money to spend; try IKEA for some really nice, not too expensive rugs. (Mine came from IKEA).
• Have pictures up. I wouldn't go for too many pictures, as that can make you feel worse and make you miss home more, but a few photos are comforting to look at and make your room more cheerful.
• Decorate your walls as much as possible. I know some boarding schools are quite strict about this, but usually you will be allowed a couple of posters, or you will at least have a pinboard. So, definitely make use of whatever you are allowed to do, and to anyone who likes that kind of thing, fairy lights add a really comforting twinkly glow!
• Have a blanket. By this I mean something along the lines of a fleecy blanket or snuggie that you can use when you're sad (or cold) to curl up under. Yes, even for guys! There's nothing better than a blanket and a good movie or book to take your mind off things! 
• Have an iPod dock or stereo, or just speakers for your computer. I can't tell you the number of times impromptu dance parties have started in people's rooms, and what makes you feel better than dancing and having fun? No speakers= no dancing.

So, now that I am done sounding like your mother/ overly-cheerful welcome person on your first day, I hope some of these tips helped! Really, I would just say to put anything in your room (that you are allowed) that makes you feel at home. Good luck, and remember, you are not there forever!

Megan

xxx