So, when I first got here, I was overwhelmed. In all honesty, it simply felt like a summer camp, and soon I would be going home. However, I did adjust quickly, and I've been keeping in good contact with my friends. I mean, Boston is about 7-8 hours away, so it's not like I could really just jump on a train or bus and go home for the day. But at the same time, I'm glad I can't do that. It allowed for me to really adjust to the area and appreciate Baltimore more. Oh, and I'm also the youngest in my family, so my parents are actually finding it a bit hard to adjust (my sisters are 9 and 13 years older than me, so I was home when they went to college). However, my mom calls me often, and my dad does as well, and my sisters stay in contact with me as well. In fact my sister came to visit me a few weekend ago, and it was really nice to see a familiar face, even though I was dead tired (I got 2 hours of sleep the night before). But I definitely feel a sense of family here, and I enjoy it.

I was really worried about homesickness because of being an international student and not having the opportunity to go see my parents if I needed to. Honestly, however, I did not get seriously homesick this semester. Of course, there were times I wished I could be back at home or have certain things, but I kept myself busy with lots of clubs and social activities and this really kept me happy. Also, the ease by which I made friends helped keep me happy and feeling perpetually fulfilled.
I think it is in a certain sense advantageous not having the opportunity to see my parents 24/7 because I did not spend a lot of weekends away at home and instead used that time to form new friendships-- which prevented  me from being homesick in the first place. As many mentioned above, I think it would be bad if a student visited home often and would only make their homesickness worse.