Home away from home

Although students miss their homes, comfort can be easily located on, off JMU campus

Some students enter their freshman year without a backwards glance as they enter a world of bigger and better things.

Others do not find the transition quite so easy — many experience nauseating homesickness. Fortunately, they are not alone.

Senior Jackie Fennessey came to JMU from Bayville, N.Y.

"Freshman year was really hard for me, especially coming from out of state and not knowing anyone," Fennessey said. "You really have to build a new life for yourself here."

Fennessey said the best way to take her mind off of home is, "Just getting off campus once in a while. When you’re stuck on campus sometimes, you’re all cooped up and start to feel like a mouse in a cage."

Although Harrisonburg is not New York City, the restaurant scene is fairly large and diverse. Food also is very affordable in Harrisonburg, and the cuisine ranges from American to Thai to Caribbean.

Since the Harrisonburg Transit buses make numerous stops near a number of restaurants such as Dave’s Taverna and Calhoun’s, a night or day on the town is easy to maneuver.

The bus also makes stops at Valley Mall — not quite the bustling center of commerce most students are accustomed to — but it has the basic necessities. The mall is a great place to go off campus for a few hours in the afternoon.

If getting off campus seems too daunting, there are also plenty of ways to have fun and unwind on campus.

"I’m not involved in many activities yet," freshman Carla Johnson said. "I’m still trying to get used to school, but whenever I miss home, I talk to my roommate or the girls on my hall about it. A lot of them are going through the same thing as I am."

When she needs some time to herself, she says she enjoys doing her homework outside to get a little bit of sunshine and fresh air.

There are tons of beautiful places to go on campus, among them: Festival at sunset, Newman Lake when the ducks re out and the Quad at anytime with a good book.

"When I was a freshman, we used to play ‘hall hockey’ with our field hockey sticks at 2 a.m.," senior Phyllis Strange said. "We would end up laughing so loud we would wake people up."

More than anything else, people recommend getting involved while attending college.

Senior Michael Kennedy came to the United States from Australia and has been in school at JMU for four years. Kennedy was involved with International Student Alliance — only one club among the hundreds available to students at JMU.

Clubs are the best way to get to know people who share similar interests, and JMU has a high level of student involvement in extracurricular activities, Kennedy said.

"I was never terribly homesick here, but that’s because I got involved and I also went out a lot," Kennedy said. "So I was too busy having fun to really think about home."