Ren's Freshman 15
Home is where the heart is, but absences makes the heart grow fonder
Ren Jenkins
Issue date: 9/4/09 Section: Opinion
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No, I'm not talking about Swine Flu. I'm talking about something far worse and far more contagious: homesickness.
Almost everyone on my hall has packed their suitcases and gone home for a weekend visit. Last weekend, I did the same. Except, after five minutes of smelling the familiar scent of home, I was shooed into the family car with my parents and two wet dogs to drive to Birmingham for my nephew's birthday party.
I thought that after the party we would drive back and I could spend the night in my beautiful, comfy bed and shower in my full-sized shower, but to my dismay, I had to spend the night on a couch in my sister's basement. (I did get that full-size shower, though. Nothing is better than showering without the fear of someone shouting or forgetting to shout, "Flushing!")
The hardest part of the weekend was driving back from Birmingham to my house, knowing I would have to drive back to my cramped dorm and community bathroom.
After a weekend of putting off homework to catch up with family or cuddle with my lovable puppy, I had to go back to the college world where every waking moment was spent doing something or walking somewhere.
We wait 18 years to move away from home, to exert our independence, to eat what we want to eat, to nap when we want to nap.
But the second we leave the nest, all we want to do is go back for a home-cooked meal and queen-size bed. After years of fighting with our parents, all we want is a hug as we walk through the door.
After getting a taste of it last weekend, home is all I've been able to think about. I can't concentrate on school, my tolerance for people has been on the fritz and everything has been going wrong.
All I've wanted to do is march up the stairs in my house, crawl into my familiar bed and get a good night's sleep.
So how do we survive homesickness?
It's not like we can go down to the infirmary and get a vaccine. There's not a prescription we can pick up at Walmart.
I think everyone has their own cure. You just have to find it. Maybe it's bringing something from your room at home, a poster you've had since the good old N'Sync days or the stuffed animal you thought you wouldn't need.
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