We’ve all been there. You’ve just finished the semester. You’re tired. You’re not really sure when the last time you had an actual eight hours of sleep was and you’re almost entirely sure that your bloodstream is 99% coffee.
So, you’re excited to get home, sleep in your own bed, and eat food that you didn’t have to pay for. However, because you just finished the semester, you know you’re going to have to answer questions, whether from your immediate family or your aunts and uncles who you’ll end up seeing over the holidays at some point.
Here are nine of those questions:
1. “How’s school going?”
This is probably the most common question, and it’s also the one nobody wants to answer. My advice? Just pretend you didn’t hear it – yes, all 500 times you’ve been asked – and you’ll be fine.
2. “What are you going to do after graduation?”
Another common one – and one I always dread getting – I have no advice for this other than to answer it as truthfully as possible (which means saying “I don’t know” and going about your day.)
3. “Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?”
I’m always really amazed at this question. Because if I was in a serious enough relationship that I wanted to tell all of my family about it, that person would be there, at Christmas dinner with me.
4. “Why do you look so tired?”
My answer to this is generally something along the lines of, “Because I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in I don’t know how long and now that I’m home and able to catch up on all my sleep, I spend my nights watching Netflix and not getting that sleep I promised myself I would.”
5. “How were finals?”
Another one I’m always confused by. A good portion of my relatives went to college. Unless they’ve completely omitted the experience from their brains – which is completely possible because finals are horrible – I can’t imagine they don’t know what the answer to this question will be.
6. “So what are your plans for over break?”
For the first time since August, I have no plans. I don’t have anything to do – unless you’re like me and keep your part-time job over the holiday season, then there’s work involved. But for the most part, I have no plans and saying that is always seen as the end of the world in my family and I have no idea why. I just finished three months of school and want to sleep in on the weekends. Sue me.
7. “So when does school start again?”
I just got home, the last thing I want to think about is when school starts back up. At least give me until after Christmas to ask this question – in fact, you don’t even have to buy me a gift, just, you know, don’t ask about when I have to revisit the hell hole I call my university.
8. “Did you meet any new friends?”
This is my grandma’s very subtle way of telling me she doesn’t like the friends I have, and this is my aunt’s subtle way of telling me she thinks I don’t have enough friends. But see, the thing is, I associated with a very small group of people in college, they have dealt with all of my mental breakdowns and 2 A.M. text messages about me failing and to try to assimilate someone else into that would just take too long.
9. “What are you majoring in?”
In all fairness, I have a lot of cousins. We’re all going to school for different things, so I understand my relatives not knowing exactly what each of us are majoring in. But I’ve been asked this question now at least 10 times over the course of four years and it gets old after a while.
