First-Year Student Journals : Katie : Journal 6

Top Five Things That Are Different Between High School Winter Break and College Winter Break

One is two weeks, the other is a month.

Once you’re in college, you don’t have to worry about college applications over winter break, so you can actually enjoy it.

They lock you out of the place you call home nine months of the year in college (assuming you live on campus, of course, but nonetheless you have to clear out) so that they can clean and everything. And make sure to defrost your fridge, and don’t leave any perishable food behind.

You can spend your month of break in several ways: constructively (get a job or volunteer), not constructively (get bored) or neutral (catch up on sleep and read a few books).

Your family will interrogate you about your activities during the past semester, and no matter how hard you try to play innocent, they will know that you have done at least one thing...exciting...in college. (Just blame it on the influence of all those stories they used to tell you.)

A Month of Winter Break Is Nice...At First

Please don’t take this the wrong way. It is nice to be able to have nearly a month of vacation to spend with your family and friends, just relaxing and taking it easy. Whatever it is you do to occupy yourself over winter break seems new and entertaining and you feel that you could do it all month long. And that whole sleeping late thing (this only applies to people, such as myself, who thought that an 8 o’clock class was no big deal. Was I ever wrong.) is great, and the idea of getting a job and getting paid for it is nice. And you’re excited that you’ll be able to spend an entire month just hanging out with your siblings and parents. And when you arrive home that first day, you’re pumped and think about all the exciting family traditions that you’ll be there to enjoy.

And then Christmas comes and Christmas goes, and you’re still at home. Your siblings have returned to school, and you’re still at home.

That’s right. You’ve spent countless hours in front of your computer, talking to your friends from school, asking how their breaks have been. The response is usually something along the lines of, “Well, it was great...at first. But now I’m bored and I think I’ve been home too long.”

Yes, the case of many.

When you’re off at school for even a semester, despite the weekend trips home, you grow unaccustomed to spending long periods of time at home. You begin to wonder what to do with yourself (reasons #1-10 why I got a job) and how to spend your time. Your siblings become irritated and the fascination that you once were when you first walked in the door at the beginning of break has worn off and you become, once again, the older sibling and nothing more. They think of you as a pain and they don’t treat you in that special, adoring manner that they used to treat you when you first arrived.

Your evenings are spent in the living room, watching TV. It was great, at first, watching all those shows that you miss in college because you’re never at home with they come on, or you’re too busy writing a paper or studying to care that they’re on. The weekends pass in much the same manner as the other days of the week, since your friends are now scattered across the state and country, rather than centrally located in your hometown. And there are always those old high school friends whom you don’t see often, but if you’re like me, most of them go to The University of Texas at Austin and so you see them whenever you want to, so there’s nothing special about them being in the same place that you are. My best friend is spending most of her vacation in Colorado, so I don’t get to see her for very long, but if she were home, we’d be spending all of our time together! But I digress.

So you spend all semester looking forward to that month off from school, which is always appreciated, and spending it with the family in your own little house and your own little bed. And you’re excited because winter break in college has got to be better than winter break at any time before because everything about college is better than high school.

And it is, until the novelty wears off. Eventually, your siblings cease treating you like the royal highness and revert back to treating you like you’re just some older sibling pain in the neck. They stop treating you with special love and attention, and begin to ignore you like you were there everyday rather than just occasionally. Those simple things that used to amuse you, like watching the reruns of your favorite shows, just aren’t amusing anymore. It doesn’t matter how much you missed these things while you were away at school, they lose the luster they had when you were living at home. Why?

Because over the semester you’ve become accustomed to living on your own and taking care of yourself. You’re no longer used to having parents tell you what to do or where to go, parents controlling your activities. And—gasp—giving you a curfew! It’s suddenly alien. The mundane daily life of yours has suddenly become strange and unfamiliar, and while it’s fun at first, you realize you’re not so sure you like it anymore, and begin to anticipate going back to school so you can be on your own with all of your friends again.

And if you think I’m kidding, just wait! Sure, you miss your family when you’re away and all, but there’s nothing like being away at college and once you’ve grown accustomed to it, you can’t live under any other conditions. So yeah, that family life that you were so accustomed to, no matter how badly you couldn’t wait to leave it or how badly you wanted to stay, becomes monotonous and you know that it’s just temporary rather than long-lasting, as it was before, and so you begin to itch to go back to what has become the familiar way of life to you.

So yes, enjoy your winter break when you’re at college and enjoy the month of no stress, but always keep in mind that it’s not going to be a month of glorious attention showered upon you, because your family will become as tired and bored with you as if you were once again living there. And trust me, you, too, will become bored with the once familiar life that you once lived because college is just so much more exciting.

(Note: This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy my winter break. In fact, I loved it and had a wonderful time. It’s just that you begin to finally realize how different college is because it’s new and exciting, while coming back to the life you had when you lived at home becomes the same as it was before you left for college. It’s like taking a step back in time and you just can’t wait to get back to the new and exciting!)



	Katie \| Profile \| Favorites \| Journal 1 2 3 4 5 6 Spring 2003 \| Home
	Top Five Things That Are Different Between High School Winter Break and College Winter Break One is two weeks, the other is a month. Once you’re in college, you don’t have to worry about college applications over winter break, so you can actually enjoy it. They lock you out of the place you call home nine months of the year in college (assuming you live on campus, of course, but nonetheless you have to clear out) so that they can clean and everything. And make sure to defrost your fridge, and don’t leave any perishable food behind. You can spend your month of break in several ways: constructively (get a job or volunteer), not constructively (get bored) or neutral (catch up on sleep and read a few books). Your family will interrogate you about your activities during the past semester, and no matter how hard you try to play innocent, they will know that you have done at least one thing...exciting...in college. (Just blame it on the influence of all those stories they used to tell you.) A Month of Winter Break Is Nice...At First Please don’t take this the wrong way. It is nice to be able to have nearly a month of vacation to spend with your family and friends, just relaxing and taking it easy. Whatever it is you do to occupy yourself over winter break seems new and entertaining and you feel that you could do it all month long. And that whole sleeping late thing (this only applies to people, such as myself, who thought that an 8 o’clock class was no big deal. Was I ever wrong.) is great, and the idea of getting a job and getting paid for it is nice. And you’re excited that you’ll be able to spend an entire month just hanging out with your siblings and parents. And when you arrive home that first day, you’re pumped and think about all the exciting family traditions that you’ll be there to enjoy. And then Christmas comes and Christmas goes, and you’re still at home. Your siblings have returned to school, and you’re still at home. That’s right. You’ve spent countless hours in front of your computer, talking to your friends from school, asking how their breaks have been. The response is usually something along the lines of, “Well, it was great...at first. But now I’m bored and I think I’ve been home too long.” Yes, the case of many. When you’re off at school for even a semester, despite the weekend trips home, you grow unaccustomed to spending long periods of time at home. You begin to wonder what to do with yourself (reasons #1-10 why I got a job) and how to spend your time. Your siblings become irritated and the fascination that you once were when you first walked in the door at the beginning of break has worn off and you become, once again, the older sibling and nothing more. They think of you as a pain and they don’t treat you in that special, adoring manner that they used to treat you when you first arrived. Your evenings are spent in the living room, watching TV. It was great, at first, watching all those shows that you miss in college because you’re never at home with they come on, or you’re too busy writing a paper or studying to care that they’re on. The weekends pass in much the same manner as the other days of the week, since your friends are now scattered across the state and country, rather than centrally located in your hometown. And there are always those old high school friends whom you don’t see often, but if you’re like me, most of them go to The University of Texas at Austin and so you see them whenever you want to, so there’s nothing special about them being in the same place that you are. My best friend is spending most of her vacation in Colorado, so I don’t get to see her for very long, but if she were home, we’d be spending all of our time together! But I digress. So you spend all semester looking forward to that month off from school, which is always appreciated, and spending it with the family in your own little house and your own little bed. And you’re excited because winter break in college has got to be better than winter break at any time before because everything about college is better than high school. And it is, until the novelty wears off. Eventually, your siblings cease treating you like the royal highness and revert back to treating you like you’re just some older sibling pain in the neck. They stop treating you with special love and attention, and begin to ignore you like you were there everyday rather than just occasionally. Those simple things that used to amuse you, like watching the reruns of your favorite shows, just aren’t amusing anymore. It doesn’t matter how much you missed these things while you were away at school, they lose the luster they had when you were living at home. Why? Because over the semester you’ve become accustomed to living on your own and taking care of yourself. You’re no longer used to having parents tell you what to do or where to go, parents controlling your activities. And—gasp—giving you a curfew! It’s suddenly alien. The mundane daily life of yours has suddenly become strange and unfamiliar, and while it’s fun at first, you realize you’re not so sure you like it anymore, and begin to anticipate going back to school so you can be on your own with all of your friends again. And if you think I’m kidding, just wait! Sure, you miss your family when you’re away and all, but there’s nothing like being away at college and once you’ve grown accustomed to it, you can’t live under any other conditions. So yeah, that family life that you were so accustomed to, no matter how badly you couldn’t wait to leave it or how badly you wanted to stay, becomes monotonous and you know that it’s just temporary rather than long-lasting, as it was before, and so you begin to itch to go back to what has become the familiar way of life to you. So yes, enjoy your winter break when you’re at college and enjoy the month of no stress, but always keep in mind that it’s not going to be a month of glorious attention showered upon you, because your family will become as tired and bored with you as if you were once again living there. And trust me, you, too, will become bored with the once familiar life that you once lived because college is just so much more exciting. (Note: This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy my winter break. In fact, I loved it and had a wonderful time. It’s just that you begin to finally realize how different college is because it’s new and exciting, while coming back to the life you had when you lived at home becomes the same as it was before you left for college. It’s like taking a step back in time and you just can’t wait to get back to the new and exciting!)