The end of the semester is upon us so here's a few things to remember during this time of the year; remember to eat, remember to sleep, showering is optional but preferred, and last but not least, remember that it'll be okay. This is usually the point of year where most of your friends are going on about how excited they are to go home and how much they’re going to love having an entire month at home, and you might feel slightly off about this. As hard as it is for other people to believe this, your life at home may be less than satisfactory and even being home for a week during Thanksgiving break seemed to be more than you can handle. Don’t worry: you’re not alone.

Originally, my plan was to have a building set up so that those students who don’t want to return home still have a place to live and won’t go bankrupt spending 27 dollars a night to live on campus, but that doesn’t seem likely. Just remember a month is only a month and it will eventually come to an end and you will be back on campus before you know it. After all, you managed to make it through 17 years at home, so you can make it through one month. If you’re thinking about summer break already, don’t! Just don’t. Take it one step a time, focus on getting through holiday break first. You have time to worry about summer break later.

On the bright side, you get to be home for a little while longer, so take advantage of that. Try to spend some more time with friends, go and visit some of your favorite places around your hometown, go to the library if you need to and just spend the entire day there reading books. Reading is fun, after all. If you’re lucky then you’ll have some work so you can earn a little extra money while you’re at home. If none of those seem like viable options you can still find something that better suits your needs, like taking a lot of naps. Naps are nice and you need to make up for all the sleep you lost during the semester. Don’t actually nap all day - that will really mess up your sleep schedule. However, occasional naps will be fine and much deserved.

Once again remember that you are not alone, and it’s only for a month. A month goes by a lot quicker than you think it would. Also, you may not see them for a while but you have made friends during your time here. Keep in touch with them, they will make time pass by a lot faster. Especially if they live nearby; one benefit of college is that you have made friends from all over the country, take advantage of that and visit them. I’m actually going to take a week off in January to go visit friends in DC and check out the city. Try to find similar opportunities for yourself. Lastly, I’m sorry that your home isn’t great, but just remember what I said earlier: it’ll be okay, and if you need someone to talk to feel free to talk to me to help yourself make it through break, stay safe!