A complete list of everything that will make you homesick at University

University is a different experience for everybody, but one thing we can all agree on is that feeling homesick sucks. Rest assured – here is the definite list of everything that will kick off you missing home so that you’re prepared.

Lack of money

Freshers is over and you’re well into the term, and even more so into your overdraft. As well as the guilt that comes with being insanely overdrawn, you’re now stuck eating plain toast and drinking gross black tea because you can’t afford any decent food. Going out and getting smashed with your mates is a distant dream, but then you remember that it was those twenty VK’s that got you into this position in the first place. Being at home and eating food you haven’t paid for suddenly sounds a lot more appealing.

The reality that you might actually need to do a bit of work

You’ve been drifting through the first few weeks, pleasantly surprised at how easy your course seems and assuring yourself that you’ll get at least a 2:1 no problem, then bam: you get your first marks back. The savage 40 per cent your tutor has given you with the feedback ‘do the reading!!’ doesn’t really fall into your plan of getting a 1st without doing any work. A sudden realisation dawns over you that you might not be as smart as you think you are, and so you dream of going back to your gap year where everything easy and you didn’t have to worry about how to reference correctly. Not worrying seems to be a thing of the past.

Fresher’s flu

If being ill isn’t enough to make you feel sorry for yourself, try being ill in uncomfortable halls surrounded by a bunch of un-sympathetic flatmates. There’s only so much comfort you can get from your tiny single bed, not made any better by the hot lemon water you’re drinking as you can’t afford real Lemsip. A harsh reminder of how useful your Mum’s medicine cabinet is, despite her forcing it down your throat as soon as your nose starts to run.

Your rubbish cooking skills

You came to uni thinking that plain pasta and soup would be enough to nourish you to your core. Perhaps you even had some imaginative ideas of you and your flatmates cooking incredible meals for each other. How wrong can you be? In reality, pasta is getting a bit sickening and Pot-noodles don’t seem like an upgrade. You try to think of your dad’s delicious homemade chicken casserole as you shovel another crap ready-meal into your mouth, in the hope that the memory will keep your longing for home-cooked food at bay.

You don’t actually like your flatmates

One of the most awkward things about University is definitely the sudden realisation that those people you’ve been going out with for the past month, are all dicks. Maybe it’s because one of them owes you £40 for multiple club entries but has conveniently forgotten about it, or maybe they’re completely different without a beer in their system. Either way it will have you longing for the reliable banter you have with your mates from home, meaning that you spend your last £20 on a train ticket going up to see them.

The sudden realisation that you can’t drink like you could when you were a young fresher

Maybe freshers was only a month ago, or it’s a distant memory as you head into your third year. Either way, once past the initial excitement of a new term, the realisation that you may be experiencing your worst hangover ever (or a slow death as some like to call it) hits. You reminisce on the days of stealing some cider from your parents alcohol cupboard and getting pissed in a random field, only to wake up the next morning with nothing more than a slight headache, and get on with your day. Now, it takes at least 24 hours of self-pitying and Domino’s-ordering to get you through the aftermath of a night out.

Going home for the weekend

Perhaps you’re one of those people who just doesn’t get homesick, or perhaps you went travelling on your Gap year and so cried it all out then, but you just don’t really miss home that much. You decide to head home for the weekend to your Mum’s request, and everything is fine. Perhaps home even feels a bit boring. But it gets to Sunday evening and you remember that you’ll be headed back to your student halls the next morning, and it hits: you never want to leave again. Dropping out seems completely reasonable when your Mum is bringing you hot cuppas every hour, no?