When I first started applying to colleges, I couldn’t wait to get away from home. It wasn’t because I didn’t like my home; it was more because I just wanted a change. I was ready for something different than the same old routine I had been living for the past four years of high school. One of the criteria I used when I was looking at schools was location. I didn’t look too hard at any universities that were too close. Penn was the perfect distance – not close enough to warrant a visit that wasn’t a special occasion, but not too far that I couldn’t get away for a weekend if I wanted to. Now I’m a freshman and I’ve been here a month, so the homesickness has finally started to settle in. I still have this feeling that I’m just at a sleep away camp and that I’ll be going home to sleep in my own bed soon. However, that’s not the reality. So here are some of the things that I miss most about my home:
First and foremost, I miss my family. I was lucky in that my parents were some of my best friends. I miss getting up early on the weekends and watching soccer games on the couch with my dad. I miss shopping with my mom. I miss family dinners on Sunday and just lounging on the couch. Now I get up on the weekends and have to accept the fact that I know my dad is also up watching the game back home “with” me. But it isn’t the same, and I miss that.
2. My friends
Second, and also obviously, I miss my friends. I miss having the squad who you could always count on to accept all of your oddities. My friends were the absolute best. I honestly can’t even say more than that. Friends, if you’re
reading this (and you better be ‘cause that’s what friends do) – I miss you like crazy.
3. My shower
I hate shower
shoes. I hate lugging my shower caddy down the hallway, despite how lazy that makes me sound. The showers in college are gross and that is a universal fact. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to anyone who has said their college shower was not gross. Whenever I go home for holidays, I will cherish my own shower. I can’t wait to ditch the shower shoes and feel the refreshing effects of good water pressure
4. My bed
Fourth, I miss my bed. At college, I have seven inch risers so it’s a very ungraceful climb into bed each night and an even more ungraceful tumble out of bed each morning. It’s too much work to get into my own bed, but I also need the storage space those seven inch risers provide. I feel the effects of that trade-off very much.
5. My car
Some of my favorite memories took place in my car, oddly enough. When my friends and I were going somewhere, we’d blast the music and sing at the top of our lungs. Granted, I did that even when I was the only person in the car, but it was nice having a vehicle of escape.
6. My food pantry
Now I can’t really call it
my food pantry because I was not the person who stocked it; my lovely parents did that for me (thanks Mom and Dad!). However, now that I’m in college, I no longer have access to a pantry stocked with food. When my stomach rumbles because I napped past dinner and the dining hall is closed, I’m forced to make the ultimate decision: Do I spend some of my precious money or do I survive the night on Clif Bars?
7. My cats
I miss having a cat curled up at the foot of my bed purring when I’m going to sleep. Some people have
dogs and are
dog people but I’ve always been a cat person.
Taylor Swift is a cat person so that means I’m okay being a cat person as well.
8. My eateries
At home, I had a usual at all of the local places to eat. Being confident in one’s knowledge is relaxing and satisfying while the unknown is absurdly stressful. Now, I’m that annoying person in line who stares at the menu for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to get. Do I get the more interesting and risky option or the standard
Italian sandwich? SO MANY DECISIONS THAT I DID NOT HAVE TO MAKE AT HOME.
9. My couch
At college, I don’t have a couch because my room is tiny. All I have is my bed and a desk chair essentially for sitting. And my bed is on risers as I explained earlier. Sometimes I don’t want to make the effort to get all the way up onto my bed. I just want to fall forward onto a couch. Specifically, I’d like to fall forward onto the couch in my living room at home. Preferably, I’d like to not fall forward onto the purple pleather couch in the hall lounge that isn’t long enough to fit a real human being.
10. My privacy
In college, there’s no privacy and there’s infinite privacy. It’s very confusing. You can close your door and not talk to anyone for a whole day but then when you finally exit your room you feel like you have to look respectable and somewhat human-looking. That’s pretty exhausting. I miss being able to look like a lazy bum when you’re at home and around your family and not feel the least bit bad about it.
