Home: An Off-Campus Hello

I just want to say... it feels good to be home. I think college is something that makes a lot of kids realize how important their families are. After the fracturing times middle school and high school can bring to the parent-child relationship, there's a lot that being away from home and being on your own can do to repair and revitalize it.

After an extremely difficult quarter, I am very happy to be home.

That's not to say I don't miss UCSD life as well.

There is something about being on your own that can be very freeing. My mom, after a lot of work on her part, is a lot less restrictive nowadays and accepting of me growing up and becoming an adult. I've been very blessed by her grace in the situation.

However, there's just something special about being awake at 2:30 in the morning and leaving your apartment to take a walk around a campus full of outdoor art pieces and interesting architecture, having your friends over late and loud, determining exactly what your schedule is for the day and deciding it's ok not to wake up until 2 in the afternoon. There's something cool about being able to do whatever you want whenever you want.

When you go home, I think for most kids, that freedom is definitely cut back. And it can be hard. My first winter break home, I felt caged in and when I wanted to take that early morning walk, I knew my mom would get upset if I just randomly left the house in the middle of the night on my own. Also, the streets are just not as safe as campus. It was hard and I resented my mom a lot. It felt like I was back in high school and not that I had taken care of myself perfectly well for a whole quarter. It definitely caused some fights and frustration. We talked and it's a lot better now. She's been really understanding and gives me enough freedom when I'm home that I have been able to go out and hang out with friends at 230 in the morning and not gotten flack for it the next day.

That feeling though was something I never expected. No one's ever talked about it, at least to me, and it's not something I've ever read in those "How To Survive College" books. (I don't think I read any of those though.) It was something I never even thought of. I just wanted to put it out there in hopes that someone can learn from it.

Going from home to college is a big change, but going from college to home can also be a big one.

Marshallpalooza!

No food review this week, unfortunately :( I've been deathly sick holed up in my dorm room.

It seems a little contradictory to hold a carnival the Friday before finals week, but let's face it--you can't study 24/7! And what better way to destress than to spend a few hours playing carnival games with your friends? Despite catching the flu and winding up playing catch up in studies I let my friends drag me out to Marshall field and we challenged each other at all the games--duck races, basketball shots, ladder races, dunk tanks, you name it. They gave out rubber duckies and glow sticks as prizes to the winner of each game! Along with that, there was free food! Once you get to college, the unspoken rule in dorm life is free food shalt never be turned down. People walked around with trays of hot dogs and there was a stand serving corn on the cob with garlic and seasonings.

Lastly, there's the Ferris wheel--romantic, shiny, and a tad scary (are Ferris wheels supposed to go that fast?), but well worth the ride! I love Marshallpalooza!

I apologize for the delay in blogging. My internet has actually been down for the last few days because of a blackout in my building. Someone across the hall blew a fuse and our suite was left without light for about 2 hours--yikes. Definitely not a conducive environment for studying! That brings me to my second important point: always carry a flashlight. Remember that open flames aren't allowed in the dorms, for good reason! I also find a flashlight handy in non-blackout situations. Since I live in a triple and I room with athletes, I'm frequently up later than them (when you have 6am weights, you definitely want an early night's sleep!). Instead of turning on the light when I'm ready to turn in, I use my flashlight to make my way to the top bunk in the dark.

Good luck to all on their finals! Remember to eat and sleep well while studying too--studies show that students do better with a good night's sleep :)
Rosanne

Home Away From Home: Wishing Finals Week Was Over

As much as I love being on my own here at UCSD, I do tend to miss my family quite a bit. As much as I love the people here who have become my family away from my family, my mom, my brother, and I are very close and, at times, it's really hard without them being near. My hometown is about a 12 hour drive from campus and that does not really allow for a quick weekend trip home or even for the four short days of Thanksgiving (sorry excuse for a) break.

So, instead of skipping classes on Wednesday to try and get in a travel day to go home and see the family, I surprised my brother and flew him down for Thanksgiving. It was so much epicness to be able to spend so much time with him since he has the full week off. He was here from the Saturday night before Thanksgiving week to the Monday afterwards.

It was a lot of fun! We went paintballing, started a pick-up dodgeball game in the iHouse basketball court (if you're ever down, let me know!), had a big Thanksgiving dinner with all of my friends here, played a large game of 7-11, raided Ralph's to create our very own Thanksgiving dinner, watched Netflix like no other, dragged mattresses out to the living room so we could wake-up early and watch the Thanksgiving parade in bed, saw Harry Potter, andpretty much just had a blast!

Now, I know that we're all about to go home in a week (unless you're an International student, but all of them seem to be going on trips around the country), but I thought I would give you a tip on how to feel like you're home, even when you're in the middle of Finals *cough* DEATH *cough* week or at any time of the year when you just wish you were home.

Decorate your room--- Seriously, your personal touch will make the world of difference. Whether you have a single or a cramped three to a room (hello, freshman year), bring things from home. Bring pictures, bring posters, bring your favorite blankets. Bring your stereo, bring your nick-nacks. Cover your walls, your closets, the surface of your desks, not the ceiling (only with blue painter's tape, of course!--which you can definitely get at stores around campus like M.O.M. in Muir). If you have an apartment, decorate the living room. Get together with your flatmates and take a trip to Target (41 bus on weekdays, 101 to UTC to 41 bus on weekends) and find some things you all like. I fill my mom's mini-van for our trek across the great Golden State with things that are simply used to make my room seem less of a "This is my bear white-walled dorm room, a continuation of the school" and more like a "Haven away from the stressful area surrounding me that's ALL MINE."

BONUS TIP, AWH YEAH: Comfort food. Yes, I know about the freshman fifteen, but a little comfort food to bring you back home is always a good thing. Go to Ralph's, or Vons, or any of the stores we have spread across campus (good way to use up those extra dining dollars!) and get cookin' in the kitchen. Cooking may seem scary (it was to me!), but just mess around until you get something you love. I've created two of my own recipes that I'll gladly share with you one of these days. If you have an apartment this works best because you can make your own at home, but if not, indulge yourself when you find something AWESOME at a dining hall. The taste of your cooking-parental-unit is only a short walk away.