For many college students, going away to college is the first experience that they have being away from their parents for an extended period. There will be phone calls and texts back home, yet the connection is entirely mediated in most cases. For myself, the case is very much the same. I saw my parents in person for a single night in September during Champlain's parent’s weekend. Outside of that one night getting dinner together, I haven’t seen my family in a full three months.
In my family, Thanksgiving is by far the biggest holiday that we celebrate. Welcoming at least 30 family members and many other family friends into our house, there is a never-ending supply of people and food flowing on that special November day. For the first time, however, I won’t be home to help prepare for Thanksgiving with my family. At this Thanksgiving, I am a guest, rather than being a host.
I hadn’t thought about being a guest in my childhood home until recently. This new line of thinking was brought about by a conversation that I had with a friend of mine. She was discussing having visited home earlier in the semester, but that it hadn’t felt like another home, just another bed to sleep in. This statement left me thinking about if the same thing would happen when I finally went home.
The week leading up to my trip home was a busy one. I had to complete my final project for one of my major-specific classes, as well as begin planning two other final projects that would be due when I returned from my trip. Many of the projects were group projects that involved meetings with various groups of people, which had me running from place to place every night. These activities had my mind distracted from the upcoming festivities, but as Friday finally entered my view, I realized that the week was over. I only had a few more days until I was on my way home, but now I was equally distracted by my previous thought: Would home feel like home?
Having these thoughts invade my head only a week before heading home, I decided to think about all the things that I will be thankful to have again when returning home. I will finally be able to sleep in a bed that my feet won’t hang off the edge of. I will get to see my sister for the first time in three months, who I miss very much. Pro-tip for big brothers going off to college: start a Snap streak with your sister. It will make those months of being away from family much more passable; my current streak with her is now nearing 70! I am going to be thankful to see all my extended family, and finally have interesting stories to tell at the dinner table. I get to enjoy one of the best eating holidays of the year, and I’d sooner die than miss my grandmother’s cooking.
Now that I am on the very edge of making my way home for Thanksgiving, and with these thoughts in mind, I have made my conclusion. Going home for the first time after heading to college may not feel like home, but home isn’t about the place. It is about the people you have with you, the experiences you must share and the memories that you can make. I am extremely excited that I am heading home, and I hope that everyone out there heading home for the first time has a fantastic experience finally being home.
