Going home for a break is always an interesting part of your college experience. For days on end, you are torn from your lovely second home full of friends, distractions, parties and coeds, and you are subjugated to the constraints of your parents' household. Holidays, such as Thanksgiving, create an even more terrifying situation due to the added element of family members visiting. Hang in. There is still one more wave of parties left, before the finals crunch, once the break is over. Here three situations you may just run into.
1. How are your grades? You will hear this question more times over Thanksgiving break than you could possibly count. What is worse is that, unless you are in that increasingly small percentage of students who have their act together prior to finals, you are going to have to lie on this one. "Oh, besides a B in English -- but that is just because of homework that isn't in yet -- my grades are all looking great!" This, of course, is a lie. Your neighbor's aunt, whom you are being paraded in front of by your mom, won't know any better.
2. Trying to explain why you love college so much to your relatives who have no idea that you drink. Not saying you do that, of course, but if you did, this would be hard. "Well, Grandad, we went to this frat party and it was so much fun. They had free soda and sandwiches and everyone was home by midnight!" The older generation really must think that ours is lame.
3. Hey bro, do you mind if I come over tonight?This question comes from all of the kids in high school that you tolerated, but never particularly cared to hang out with. They all want to see you over break, hear about your college experience, compare pledgeships, and eat the food at your house (the worst part of all) and, in general, waste your time. To avoid this problem, you should develop an intricate story for what you are doing all of Thanksgiving. Make sure it is way too complicated for Joe from AP Euro to ever get an hour in, under any circumstances.
Let us know about your awkward interactions! Let's commiserate.
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