Being homesick is very common among college students. If you feel sad and lonely, think about people at home all the time, want to go home every weekend, and just feel generally depressed, then you are probably homesick. Fortunately, there are ways to cope with it. The following tips should help you overcome your feelings of homesickness.

Get involved. Being involved in school activities will keep you busy, therefore reducing your time to be homesick. Join a sorority or fraternity. Participate in intramural sports. Attend campus events. Not only will these activities keep you busy and reduce your time to be homesick, but they will also allow you to meet more people and make new friends. The more friends you make at college, the less homesick you will feel.

Explore. Get to know your campus and surrounding community by walking around. You will discover places where you feel comfortable hanging out. Once your environment becomes familiar to you, your feelings of homesickness should start to diminish.

Find a new hobby. To help take your mind off of home, get involved in a new hobby. Consider arts and crafts or an outdoor activity. Try to find a buddy who is interested in pursuing a new hobby too, so you will have someone to share it with.

Display familiar items. Having familiar items from home displayed around your dorm room will make your environment feel more comfortable. Put up pictures of your family, friends, and pets from home, along with pictures of new friends that you have made at college. If you have a stuffed animal, doll, or blankie that reminds you of home, it's okay to display it on your bed. Try to make your dorm room as relaxing and cozy as your bedroom at home.

Keep in touch with family and friends. Keep in touch with your family and friends from home through phone calls, e-mails, letters, etc. Just try not to call home everyday because that might make you feel worse and increase your feelings of homesickness.

Plan a visit home. Try to avoid impulse visits home. It's better to plan your trips, so you aren't tempted to go home every weekend. Try to limit your visits home to about three times per semester.

Write in a journal. It's amazing how much better you will feel if you get your thoughts down on paper. Putting your feelings on paper may allow you to see why you are homesick, and then you will be able to focus on ways to overcome it.

Share your feelings with others. Many college students, especially freshmen, experience feelings of homesickness. If you share your feelings with your peers, you will find that you are not alone. Talking about your feelings with others who feel the same way will not only help you connect with those students, but it will also help you find more ways to adjust to college life.

Keep in mind that your feelings of homesickness will go away eventually. As you get used to your new surroundings, you will grow more comfortable in your college environment. Hang in there! 

After graduation, be it from high school or college, you begin the next journey in your life. For some, this journey may be a continuation of school; for others, it may mean diving into the workforce, etc. Wherever your journey takes you after graduation, it is very likely that you will lose touch with many of the friends you have made along the way. If you want to keep in touch with those friends, keep the following in mind.

• Send e-mails. This is the easiest way to stay in touch, especially if you live far away from your old friends. Try to e-mail your friends at least once a month to let them know what has been going on in your life. If you have a group of friends, you can send an e-mail to all of them at once, but it's probably better for the friendship if you personalize an e-mail for each friend (you are more likely to get a response if the e-mail is personalized). Attach pictures to give your friends a visual of important events in your life.

• Pick up the phone. Your friends are only a phone call away. If you see something that reminds you of a certain friend, if you have big news that you want to share, or if you're just thinking about one of your friends, pick up the phone and call him. It's always nice to hear the voice of a friend on the other end of the line.

• Don't forget birthdays. Sending birthday cards to your old friends is a good way to keep in touch, and it lets them know that you are thinking of them. While sending an e-card is sufficient, sending a card through snail mail seems a little more heart-felt.

• Plan annual reunions. Having annual get-togethers will allow you and your friends to catch up and spend quality time together. If you live relatively close to your old friends, you may be able to have get-togethers more often than just once a year. The little reunions can range from a weekend trip to a casual lunch. If you have a group of friends, rotate who will be in charge of planning the get-together each year, so it's not left up to just one person.

• Consider social networking websites. There are many websites that help you stay in touch with friends, e.g. MySpace, Facebook, etc. More and more people are creating accounts on these websites every day, so even if you have already lost touch with some of your friends, you may be able to get in contact with them again through these sites. Just keep in mind that by putting your information on the Internet, you are making it easily accessible. Don't post pictures or words on your profile that you wouldn't want a potential employer to see. Furthermore, if you interact with people you do not know, be cautious about the amount of information you reveal or agreeing to meet them in person. To stay safe, avoid posting your full name, address, phone number, or schedule.

It takes effort to keep friendships strong, especially when you don't see your friends every day like you did in school. If you have friends that mean a lot to you, make sure you put forth the effort to stay in touch. You'll probably regret it a few years down the road if you don't.