It’s kind of funny how, as young bored humans, we’re never really happy where we are. When it gets cold out, we wish it was warmer (and vice versa). When we buy a new gadget, we complain that we should have waited longer in order to  get the new version. When school’s out, we complain about how bored we are back at home and how much we miss college.

But when it’s all said and done, which do we like better? Our home-away-from home in a 10×10 space or our actual home complete with annoying family members and chores?

ROUND 1: THE GRUB

The first thing I do when I come home is check in with my mom to see what she’s making for dinner. It may sound a bit juvenile, but when you’re at college, you forget how amazing and rare your mom’s pot roast is or your dad’s grilled chicken. Sure, you could hit up the cafeteria any time and get a whole tray of pizza, pasta, chicken nuggets, stir-fry, and ice cream but none of that processed junk is going to have that home-cooked to perfection taste we all know and love. Hell, cafeteria food doesn’t even come close. Not to mention, home-cooked meals are generally healthier for you. Oh, and did I mention that eating at home is free (unless your parents are ridiculously broke and charge you for dinner)? Yeah, I’m going to say that home practically killed this round.

WINNER: HOME

ROUND 2: THE SCENE

Unless you go to some small Christian school in the most remote area of Connecticut, most colleges are really diverse places. A day never goes by when you don’t see someone new walking around campus. That being said, it’s usually the complete opposite when you go home (unless you’re lucky enough to live in some amazing city like New York or LA). And yeah, sometimes getting some much-needed alone time away from society is nice, but it’s bound to get pretty boring after a week or two. College is a breeding ground for new experiences and once-in-a-lifetime events. Home really can’t compare.

WINNER: COLLEGE

ROUND 3: THE CRIB

Dorm rooms have all the essentials (and by essentials, I mean a toilet, clothing, and a jumbo pack of Cup’o'Noodles), but a sleep in your own bedroom back home can never really compare. Then again, it’s nice to be able to sleep somewhere without being woken up by your mom, siblings or even your dog every morning. Not to mention, unless you have an OCD roommate, no one’s ever going to care quite as much as your parents about the cleanliness of your room. So which do I prefer? The 10×10 closet with trash, dirty clothing, and books stacked the ceiling or my old bedroom complete with old posters, childhood memorabilia, and chore duties. Hmm… I think the dorm room makes it by just a hair.

WINNER: COLLEGE

ROUND 4: THE RULES

True freedom is something I feel like I never had until college. Yeah, I had the right to say and do whatever I wanted in high school, but I always had to face the consequences of my actions and was usually punished way too heavily for stupid little things. In college, the tables turn completely. You can literally do WHATEVER you want (except light candles in your room or drink to the point where they have to pump your stomach) as long as you handle it yourself and no one else gets hurt. Seriously, I was in shock when I learned I could stay up all night, go to Dunkin Donuts at 2AM, or skip class whenever I wanted without anybody really caring at all. It seems as though whenever I go home, I forget about all those freedoms and go back to the military-school behavior I had to use back in the day because in the eyes of most parents, children should never be allowed to stay up past 8PM or sleep in until noon.

WINNER: COLLEGE

FINAL ROUND: ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Okay, so college won almost every round by a landslide which is understandable, but don’t take it too hard, home! Remember, most of us will only be here for 4 years and then it’ll be back to chores, family drama, and really good food. This era of complete freedom and really fattening food will be over before you know it, so make the most of it while you still can! And come on, would it kill you to call your parents every now and then?

It’s finally here, Thanksgiving.  The only American holiday that goes hand and hand with elastic waistband pants. Just a few months ago your parents dropped you off at school with advice like “study hard” and “don’t drink anything out of a trashcan.” Since then, you’ve basked in the glory of freedom and the scent of stale beer and your first walk of shame.

However, you’re still excited to travel home and relax.  Quite frankly, studying and your hoppin’ college social life has wrung you out like a dishcloth and you’re ready for some R&R, hot gravy, and a serious post-feast nap.  It turns out though, freedom has sent everything your mother taught you completely backwards, and you’ve endured some weird habits in college.  Let’s just keep one thing straight, like your orange zubaz don’t quite ‘go’ with your blazer, some college behavior doesn’t transfer well into cute, family time.

Let us examine the do’s and don’ts of being home for a lengthy weekend: Read More »

It’s about that time again.  Right as you’ve settled into campus life quite comfortably, you’re packing your backs and buying mini-bottles in preparation for a Thanksgiving spent with your sometimes-endearing, usually well-meaning family.  Brace yourselves, because the transition back isn’t as easy as the one you made upon leaving home.

Here are 5 Things to Know About Being Home for Thanksgiving:

“Honey, why are you sitting in your room with a bottle of Cherry Burnett’s and that T-Pain song on repeat?”

Okay, so Mom probably doesn’t know who T-Pain is.  And she probably also doesn’t know what pre-gaming looks like.  Meeting up with high school friends for a little reunion?  Avoid the sticky questions by taking your pre-game out of the parentals’ line of vision. Read More »

But which home is home?

We’ve been following Charlsie, a 2010 grad, on her journey through the post-grad life, from the big move to the big job hunt to the major “Is this real life?!” moments. And now, with fall in full swing, she’s got something else weighing on her mind.

Whether we want to believe it or not, the holidays are approaching. I know, it feels like summer just started – even though it really just ended – but the reality is that temperatures are dropping, leaves are starting to change, and before we know it, it’ll be time for turkey, presents, and busy shopping malls. Like many people, I’m left with the question of where to spend the holidays at.

In college, it was so black and white. For the holidays, I made the seven hour drive home to my mom’s for Thanksgiving break and winter break. My dad isn’t a big fan of celebrating the holidays, so whether he spent the season with my sister and me or not – it didn’t matter to him either way. So, when the holidays started to come up in discussion with my family, I immediately figured I’d go home to Atlanta.

But I can’t help but feel like I’m leaving someone else behind, no matter what kind of holiday location choice I make. And since plane tickets nearly cost an arm and a legs these days, it makes things even more complicated. Really, it seems impossible to please everyone. Read More »

I was one of those kids that never really got homesick when I was in college. While my friends would have occasional breakdowns and cry about not being with their families or their hometown friends, I never spent too much time dwelling on what I could have been missing at home – I was too busy doing everything else. But now, as a fully functioning member of real life, I think I’m suffering from my first adult case of homesickness.

Maybe it’s the advent of fall or just the general time of year – back to school – but everything just feels off. While everyone on the East coast is talking about the leaves starting to change, I’m anxiously awaiting for some kind of sign that a seasonal change is about to take place. While I’m looking to head back to school next year, Facebook is blowing up with status updates about first day of classes, professor quotes, and new discoveries out in the real world.

And as the world turns, well – I just feel like something is missing. Read More »

Being back under your parents’ roof for Thanksgiving comes with a cornucopia of blessings, such as mom doing your laundry, shopping sprees and overeating until you actually consider braving the Black Friday crowds just to purchase a pair of jeans with an elastic waistband. However, being back under mom and dad’s watchful eye can be treacherous, as well.

This isn’t dorm life anymore. You can’t order Dominos at 2 a.m. and feed it to your late-night booty call in bed. That wasn’t OK in high school, and, believe me, it still won’t be appreciated by your parentals now. You may be a big, bad college student, but there are still some house rules that you must abide by.

That being said, here are some guidelines for navigating life at home for the Thanksgiving season:

Do enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with your entire extended family and celebrate with a glass of wine.

Don’t crush cans at the dinner table like you’re at a frat party. Because when asked what you’re thankful for this Thanksgiving, you’re great-aunt Susie won’t be laughing when you say “the morning after pill.”

Do have a few friends over for a Thanksgiving Eve pregame. There is nothing that my mom loves more than having my friends over to recap our lives over wine and snacks before she drives us to our night’s destination.

Don’t invite your entire Facebook friends list and set up a beer pong tournament on the kitchen table. Getting the family dog trashed may seem like a cool idea now, but the moment your parent’s feel it’s safe to come out of hiding in their bedroom, you’ll be getting an earful.

Do go out with friends and relive your high school glory days at a good ol’ fashioned house party.

Don’t attempt to use your fake I.D. at the local bar. There’s simply no good explanation a group of kids from various different states spanning the continental U.S. have gathered together to spend Thanksgiving in a small town in Jersey. It’s just not believable.

Do continue the search for a mate. High school boys do a lot of growing up in college; you never know what old crush or summer fling will need rekindling.

Don’t get drunk and sneak them into the basement. Experience has taught me that being awoken to breakfast-in-bed by mommy can turn quite ugly when a naked boy joins the party.

Do use protection.

Don’t ask your dad for it. He may agree, but it will most likely be a shotgun he brings out, not a condom.

You’ve been warned.

So that time of year is creeping up on us. The time when we must throw some clothes into duffel, fill the rest of the bag with dirty laundry, kiss our roommate and our bottle of vodka goodbye, and head home for fall break.

Yes, there are many up-sides to this little trip: we get a break from all the homework, we get to eat something other then cafeteria mystery meat for a change, and we get to curl up with Scruffy on the couch for a couple of days.

But with the comfort of being home comes a few downers as well. And I’m not talking about being woken up at 9am on a Saturday or having to empty the dishwasher. It’s those little comments from mom and dad that really get under your skin. And no matter how hard you try to be nice, you just can’t help but snap, say something mean and beeline to the car/airport (clean clothes and leftovers in hand, obvi) as soon as humanly possible.

Here are a few of the worst offenders:

“Honey, your pants look a little tight”
Yes mom, I realize that drinking 5 days out of the week and eating delivery pizza has done a number on my waistline. Am I happy about it? No. Do I know it is there? Yes. Is it helping that you pinch the muffin top and poke the underarm flab? Absolutely not!

“Have you found a nice boy yet?”
If by “nice” you mean “a tall pre-med student who considers hanging out in the library fun,” then no, dad, I have not found your ideal son-in-law quite yet. But I have hooked up with a couple of the guys on the football team who can barely form coherent sentences but have 8-pack stomachs you can bounce a quarter off of, if that counts for anything. Read More »

I remember crying as I packed for college a gazillion years ago and freaking out that I would never really be coming home again in the same way. But, the second I got home for Thanksgiving break, I realized exactly how wrong I was about that. My house was just as I left it (minus a few things my sister borrowed, stretched out, and left in the trunk of the car) and despite being insanely more educated, my family didn’t treat me any differently. I still fought with my sister over the remote (The Nanny reruns, really?), I still was expected to help with the dishes (ugh), and I still had to tell my mom in excruciating detail where I was going when I left the house.

However this past June when I left to go to New York I went through the exact same emotions, overly dramatic arm flailing and unattractive tears galore as I packed up. And once again, I proved myself wrong. I went home this past week to take a break from adult responsibilities, such as job hunting and obsessively updating my Linkedin and I discovered that still nothing changed. Read More »

Study hard, play hard – right? College is a major balancing act. It’s delegating what needs to get done and when, setting priorities and holding yourself to deadlines. And after a long week of working hard (attending class, writing papers, and staying ahead in the reading, just to name a few tasks), it is no wonder that college students have a reputation of wanting to party.

No one should be expected to sit in the library or stare at their dorm room walls every day of the week with their nose in a book. Everyone needs something that helps them unwind, especially on the weekends.

Sometimes finding something to do – especially on a campus where parties are a rare occasion -  is hard. I knew when I signed my life away as a Hollins woman, I was going to be living in Roanoke, Virginia,and that I wouldn’t have a big city as my playground on the weekend. I knew I wasn’t attending a huge state school where fraternity parties are the social factor and that club activities would be endless. As a prospective, I remember asking about the student life on the weekends only to hear the same fib that my fellow peers heard themselves as prospective students: “Don’t worry about it, you will always find something going on.”

Oh, but that is very far from the truth. Options on campus are very bleak. From the first weekend as a first year, I realized as no one was around on the weekends I would have to be entirely responsible for finding something to do Friday and Saturday nights. While not feeling bogged down by having too many social activities planned, I like that Hollins has a sleepy atmosphere (especially for those weekends I need to do a lot of work), but for the most part – I don’t understand why we can’t have some sort of decent entertainment when the weekend rolls around.

Read More »

So you’ve finished your first year of college! You’re relieved, excited, and filled with pride (hopefully) at your academic accomplishment. You say goodbye to your friends at school, and make the journey home.

For me, that journey home was pretty long: 1330.45 miles, if we’re being exact. And after two weeks at home, and that initial joyful reunion with my friends from high school, I am suffering from a major case of reverse homesickness.

During my first semester of school, all I wanted to do was go back to Florida, transfer to a school where academics are often neglected for tanning and water sports, despite the fact that I had come to Boston to get away from such a scenario. Nonetheless, I was ready to throw in the towel and head back home.

Second semester, however, I really began to find my footing at school, and I had a wonderful time. I did well in all my classes, fell into a groove that enabled me to balance my academic goals with some semblance of a social life, and participated in our school’s spring musical. My last night in Boston was the night of our cast party, which was not short on the debauchery or tearful goodbyes.

Suffice it to say, when I arrived home, I was feeling a little morose. I wasn’t going to see anyone from Boston until September! And now, as a couple weeks have passed and it’s getting stiflingly hot here, I miss Boston and my school friends like nobody’s business. I’ve even come to miss the simplicity of my tiny freshman double, the greasy food at our dining hall, even the drunken frat boys screaming outside my window at 3 in the morning on a Thursday night…I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

So, partly for my sanity, and partly for yours, I’m come up with a few ways to avoid, or at least diminish, that reverse homesickness. Read More »