Homesick

With the spring semester underway, we approach the one-year anniversary since our neighbors at Cabrini closed their doors. At the same time, many students who transferred from Cabrini are approaching the end of their first full year at Eastern. How has their adjustment been? 

“It seems—I don’t know if it’s because we are juniors or not—but it seems harder here to just start a conversation with somebody,” explained Emma Galati, a former Cabrini student. “At least in my department, I’ve had a harder time doing that. It doesn’t feel like ‘Oh I could just talk to the person next to me.’”

“That’s been our issue,” Deirdre McBurney, another former Cabrini student, confirmed. “A lot of cold shoulders here.” This has been the primary obstacle they’ve encountered in connecting with the Eastern student body. Galati and McBurney both feel how difficult it is living in a place of unfamiliar faces, knowing their own faces are just as unfamiliar to those around them.

“Especially the second semester,” Galati added, “I’m like, ‘Oh, you were in my class last semester.’ Do they know who I am? Probably not, because they haven’t been seeing my face for two years like they’ve seen most other people. So I get that aspect, too—like, ‘Who’s that girl?’” Transitions are always difficult, but the circumstances of the Cabrini students’ transitions especially so. “I think the fact that it wasn’t a choice for most of us to transfer is a big part of why we’re just unhappy in general.”

McBurney agrees,  “I feel like we didn’t have much time to pick either, but I feel good about this decision here.” 

It can feel daunting trying to make extracurricular or professional connections on campus as upperclassmen who are new to the community. “I feel like when you start as a freshman you gain those connections with your professors and people around you off the bat, and it stays with you for those four years…and now it’s like we’re all apart. We know them online now, but here it’s hard to gain those connections again, already two years deep,” McBurney shared.

Fortunately, McBurney finds some comradery among former Cabrini faculty members who have taken up teaching positions at Eastern. One such professor is Dr. Katie Farina, who has filled the role of Director for the Criminal Justice program. McBurney explained the sense of solidarity through experience, saying, “I feel like it’s some sort of a comfort, because when I went to her trying to apply for classes, she was having a hard time too. It was like we could learn it together.” 

Unlike her friend, Galati found nobody from Cabrini’s Business Department transferred over to Eastern. However, senior Sam Sturkey, who transferred to Eastern in the spring of 2024, has been a huge source of support and comfort for McBurney and Galati both. Galati said, “I think it’s been better because we have each other, because I think if I had come here by myself, I would’ve been gone by now.”

“A lot of the Cabrini students here that I know kind of look at me like, ‘Hey, this is our first year here, can you help us with the transition?’ Because it was a really big transition,” Sturkey said. “So I’m kind of that piece of ‘Hey, if you need help with something…I’m here,’ which has been also very helpful for me this semester to see more familiar faces, more people to talk to.” Sturkey knows from experience how difficult this transition can be when done alone. “I transferred a semester early because I knew I didn’t want to be a senior at a new school. I knew it was gonna be a tough transition—so I knew if I transferred while the school was still open, it’s only right across the street if I needed something.” 

This also allowed Sturkey to still participate in some of Cabrini’s final activities while adjusting to her new normal. “To be honest, I think it made it easier, because I knew I still had that community across the street, and if I needed a break, that I could go over and see them and hangout for a little bit.” It also helped provide a support system as Sturkey learned to work around the issues of navigating Eastern’s campus in a wheelchair. “Even though it was right across the street, Cabrini was a much less hilly campus. The landscape was totally different—I mean, that’s the biggest piece that I struggle with. Also no elevator in [Walton] is also something I struggle with. But we’re working out a way to try and accommodate [that] building.”

Though Sturkey has since found her place, she struggled at first with making friends. “I just felt like everybody already had their friend group, so it’s kind of hard to meet people and talk to people.” Fortunately, she’s been able to find a community as a campus intern, a teaching assistant, Psi Chi Honors Society member, the manager of the women’s basketball team, as well as her efforts to increase campus accessibility. “I started to find my way around, a lot of the girls started to get to know me with basketball, so I got to get to know all of them.”  But she still misses the “small-school feeling” Cabrini had. “You definitely feel like it’s a lot bigger here.”

Approaching a year and a half at Eastern, Sturkey said, “I feel like now that I’ve figured out my place and people have gotten to know me, the students are really welcoming…you just have to give them time.” If she were to have given her initial impressions of the transition this time last year, Sturkey “would’ve had more negatives than highlights, but it’s definitely a lot better now.”

Galati and McBurney both expressed that they’re hopeful for how Eastern may continually feel more comfortable. McBurney noticed, “When I do go home sometimes, on the way back I’ll be like ‘I’m going home,’ and I’m like ‘Oh wait, I’m calling [Eastern] home.’”

Galati echoed McBurney’s sentiments, “I’m also just trying to remember that I’m still acclimating, it’s gonna feel better soon.” Eastern may yet feel like home. “I think that will happen,” Galati said, “just gotta wait a little longer.”