Like most people this weekend, I was one of the many thousands of students who made the mass exodus out of State College to head home for Easter weekend. I knew it was going to be a short visit and I had a lot of work to finish, but my family was looking forward to seeing me and quite honestly, it’s hard for me to say no to a ride back home with a friend. So on Friday, I went to one class and skipped the other one and arrived home that evening.
There are hundreds of reasons why I love going home. In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating the plethora of reasons why home is so amazing. To name a few, I love seeing my family and pets, I enjoy not being woken up at 4:00 in the morning by an angry girlfriend across the hall, and I love walking into a kitchen with a refrigerator stuffed with food. Dorothy had it right when she said, “There’s no place like home.” After much contemplation, I’ve narrowed the list and come up with the top three reasons why I love going home:
- Showering with no flip flops. Many people laugh at this one, but it’s so true – walking into a clean, private bathroom that is only used by the immediate members of your family is a wonderful blessing that I took for granted until I lived in the dorms. While I do enjoy the private bathrooms in Atherton, they’re still “public” in the sense that a lot of strange people use them and they’re not always clean. Every morning I take a shower with my flip flops on and try hard not to touch anything on the floor or walls. But when I’m home, I can walk to the bathroom, step into the shower barefoot, and use a bar of soap rather than body wash. For the simple, silly reason of showering barefoot, I love going home.
- Sleeping in my own bed. I feel like this is a pretty common, understandable reason. While I can sleep just about anywhere and have never had an issue falling asleep in the dorms, there’s still something safe and secure about my own bed in my own room in my own house. I love the feeling of putting on pajamas, hopping in bed, and snuggling under the covers surrounded by the familiar objects in my room. It’s a wonderful feeling!
- Eating home-made food. Three years of a meal plan and it’s no surprise that home-cooked meals made the top three. My mom is an amazing cook and even if she doesn’t have time to make my all-time-favorite meals, her food is still amazing. And the best part is I get to enjoy it with my family. I don’t have to wait in a line, hope there’s something vegetarian on the menu that night, or gobble down a granola bar in between classes. I love good food, and nothing is more amazing than the food that my mom cooks. 🙂
So there it is – the top three reasons why I love going home even if I’m busy and stressed out and only get to enjoy 48 hours of bliss. What makes home so enjoyable is the small, little things; the things you take for granted. And it’s only when you leave that you realize how wonderful a clean shower, good food, and your own bed really are.
Hey Katy!
Thanks for sharing! You definitely hit on (in my opinion) the best parts of going home. For me, the homemade food is probably #1. Like you, I’ve been living with the meal plan for the last three years, and I’m really getting sick of it. Before I go home for a weekend, my parents always ask me for a list of food I’d like them to make. My list usually consists of some classic Armenian/Greek food because it’s so hard to get that type of food here. But, there’s never quite enough time to get all the meals I’d really like to eat in just one weekend. However, what’s even more important than the food itself, is the company of my parents. At school, my eating schedule can be kind of irregular, making it hard to sit down and have a nice meal with people I enjoy, so it’s nice when I’m home to not have to scarf down a meal in my room before heading out to class or a meeting. I actually get to sit down at a set table and have a nice conversation and a delicious meal. Everything seems to slow down when you’re home, and that’s often exactly what I need. It’s only been about two months since I’ve been home, but it feels like much longer. I’m definitely looking forward to this semester coming to a close so I can finally sleep in my own bed, shower with bare feet, and eat some delicious food.
I really enjoyed reading this post because I also, truly, indeed, absolutely, all the above love going home. I think some of the basic reasons are the same, as I really do enjoy being around friends and family, especially during breaks. For me, there is a slower pace (though there definitely is a pace) at home that is different from the very fast pace of college life. Even if it’s just for a few days, being home is a nice reminder of small comforts that exist outside of college.