The bliss that college students feel following the completion of their last final is comparable to High School Musical’s clock countdown scene.
I personally awarded my not-starving or flunking out this fall semester by getting Salata (expensive subway-style salad) for lunch, Torchy’s [overpriced] Taco’s for dinner, and finally frozen yogurt for dessert. Eating for the day cost more than I probably spend in a week on food. Either way, I was excited to be going home and forget about the stress of the semester for an entire month.
The next day, I woke up bright and early to drive home. I spent 3 hours in the car to return to an empty house. Thanks mom and dad:) Once they got back, the happiness we all felt at being reunited quickly faded. I tend to sing out-loud. a lot. at a very high volume. My sister also doesn’t approve of my hugs. The tension that has taken place over the past four days has lead me to write the followng post:
The Struggles College Students Face When They Come Home
Questions:
I don’t want to be insensitive but… my mom has questions out the wazoo. I swear. Her ideal job would be a detective. Or a TV interviewer. Or whatever other occupations ask a ton of questions. It starts out innocently enough: “How were your classes?” “What is that ones friend name again?” but it then turns into more pressing questions like “Any interesting boys at school?” “No? Why not?” “Why don’t you go date?” Sure they aren’t the hardest questions, but who want to answer 100 in a row? Not me. And if your honest, you know you don’t either.
Losing Your Freedom:
My parents tracked my phone in high school. They always knew where I was and if I didn’t answer my phone, they would make it beep using find my iPhone. When I went to school, I was finally able to change my password without my parents getting too mad. I no longer had a curfew and I never had to tell my parents where I was going or when I would be back. When I come back home, I not only get assigned a curfew, but if I want to go out, I have to get a friend to pick me up from my house. They also ALWAYS have to know my location. This is, in a word, annoying.
Lectures:
Do you think you know how the world works now? That you know right from wrong? That you may actually understand something? Well your parents don’t. You will receive 10X the amount of lectures you had before you left. Lectures on siblings, boys, grades, jobs, money, politics, diet, the TV, rent. Name it and if you don’t exactly agree with your parents, expect a lecture. Because you are wrong even if you believe you know better now that you have had some experience on your own. And don’t even think about saying that to them… that is a lecture within itself. “So you think you know everything? You have no idea what is coming for you in the real world. You have no idea what life is really like. We still do everything for you and you are so ungrateful.” I’m sure you can here your own parents saying the same thing.
High School Hero:
If you’re like me, you have a lot of high school friends that you are genuinely excited to see once you get back to your hometown. And if you are a normal person, there are also people you are praying you don’t run into at a party or even at the grocery store. These people can be relatives that come around for Christmas, your friend’s parents, the weird neighbor with 20 cats, or that one girl/guy who was an absolute pain in your butt for 4 years of your life. There are 2 ways to avoid these people: 1- don’t go out in public and 2- get lucky.
Soul Crushing Boredom:
The absolute worst part of coming home is having nothing to do. When you are used to being entirely consumed with class, homework, studying, extra curriculars, and a social life, it can be difficult finding something to do with all your newfound free time. This is the one time a year you think that there may be too many hours in the day.
Despite all that, I do love coming home and seeing my family and friends. Can you think of any other ways coming home from school is exhausting? Tell me about your time off from school.
Thanks for reading. Lots of love<3
