 "Photo:")
Natasha Bazil remembers her first semester at the University of New Hampshire - and it was anything but liberating.
"For the first week I stayed in my dorm and cried," recalled Bazil, who lived in the Fairchild dormitory her freshman year. "I called my mom about 10 times a day."
For Bazil, like many first-year college students, freshman year was the first time away from home. The fast-paced life of college, full of new friends, challenging classes and no curfew was exciting but nerve-wracking.
"I'm really close to my family," said Bazil, 21, who will be a senior at UNH this year. "For me, my anxiety never went away but it got better when I started hanging out with friends from high school."
According to experts, some first-year college students experience "separation anxiety," which can cause sleeplessness, stress and can lead to depression.
"Once in a while a parent will call about their child, who went off to school, being homesick," said Dr. Lawrence Schissel, who practices out of Newport, N.H. and whose daughter will be a freshman this year at UNH. "But there's a lot more that doesn't come to our attention."
To cure homesickness, Dr. Schissel has a simple remedy.
"Daily exercise," said Schissel. "It improves sleep and concentration and helps with depression and homesickness."
Bazil suggests hanging out with friends from home, if there are any, and getting involved with groups.
"If you join a group, people will automatically share that same interest with you," said Bazil, who said she went home most weekends her freshman year but wishes she hadn't.
For Dr. Schissel's daughter, Aggie, who will be studying occupational therapy at UNH, being away from home isn't the only separation she's facing - she'll also be away from her twin.
"I've talked to her everyday so far," said Aggie, whose twin, Sophie, left for Villanova in Pennsylvania last Wednesday. "The most we've gone is like a week. We're planning on visiting each other."
If anxiety persists, Dr. Schissel gives his daughters the same advice he gives nervous parents who call about their children who are away at school.
"Go to the school's health office," said Schissel. "They know the age group and the types of problems they're dealing with."
Be the first to comment on this article!