We all get homesick at times; we miss our parents, siblings and own beds. But moving back home for a month and a half at Christmas can seem like a very long time once you’re there.
Slipping into the university lifestyle, which is definitely bound to be pretty different to how you were living at home, is easy and inevitable. You adopt a floor made from dirty washing piles, there’s half empty takeaway boxes on every other surface, and a sleeping pattern that means you barely see the sun. While everyone around you is in the same state, this kind of behaviour doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. However your mum and dad might quite like to see your face before 2pm on a Sunday and probably won’t appreciate the 1am raids of the kitchen cupboards.
Living at university means you don’t necessarily have to report your whereabouts to anyone. Or have anyone to explain yourself to when you wake up fully dressed on the toilet floor in last night’s clothes with no idea how you got there, or to explain why your keys and phone have suddenly gone walk-about. Living independently means no one is going to tell you off for leaving your dirty dishes to grow mysterious looking greenery, because the other five or six 18 or 20-something year olds aren’t particularly going to care. And it also means you might actually have to do your own washing.
Obviously being at home provides a huge amount of perks and comforts. Sunday dinner instead of a Sainsbury’s meal deal; a bathroom you don’t have to share with six other (slightly smelly) students; a hug from your mum/dad/sibling/partner; a dishwasher; your favourite stinky old cat; and a night’s sleep without hearing people coming home at various times in the morning.
However, it can make you think twice when it suddenly isn’t acceptable to use your floor as one giant coat hanger and when the hangover onesie gets a disapproving glance along with the question, ‘are you ever getting dressed today?’ So, try not to smirk when your parents ask you to keep in touch throughout the day, and resist the roll of the eyes when you rise out of your bed at one in the afternoon to be told, ‘the days almost over you know!’ Stop yourself from killing your sister after she’s taken your favourite top, and do your best not to leave a trail of rubbish everywhere you go.
Remember, funnily enough your family might actually be happy to have you home and they are used to caring and worrying about you. By the time you get back to university you’ll be wondering why your flatmates aren’t giving you a lecture about walking home in the dark, or asking if your winter coat is warm enough. So load up the dishwasher after tea, have an X factor night in every once in a while, and a text actually goes a long way on a night out.
If all else fails and the worrying continues:
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Tell your mum you carry a rape alarm when you go out
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Steer clear of mentioning skipped lectures
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Make sure you don’t forget to say how brilliantly your course is going
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Wear earplugs when you go to sleep so that the Saturday morning sound of the hoover doesn’t wake you up
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Keep a stash of food in your room for those midnight munchies, so you don’t need to creep down the stairs.
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When you get hassle from your dad for staying in your pyjamas and watching T.V all day, just say you have very bad cramps and he should slowly back away.
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Don’t forget, your sister (or brother) may have full access to your wardrobe once you’re back, but you also have entry to theirs…
Plus, living in a clean, tidy and probably better supplied environment really isn’t too hard to get used to. You’ll soon realise the complete freedom and independence aren’t that much of a trade when there is actually milk in the fridge, and nobody is stealing your forks.
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