Newbie freshmen aren’t the only ones that are allowed to pine for home sometimes. Being away from home can be great when it comes to no curfews and no house rules (no rules your parents assigned at least), but as soon as things get rough we’re all crying for our mommies.
When we’re at home and start sneezing there’s usually someone to take care of us. A mom, a dad, an unusually kind sibling. There’s someone to tell you to have soup and maybe warm some up for you, even if it is Campbell’s from a can. You can wrap yourself up in a blanket, camp out in front of the T.V. and daze in and out like there’s no tomorrow. But when you get sick here? No such luxury.
If you’re in a dorm room you either get soup from Crossroads or go in search of a microwave to warm up a can of soup from the dollar store. Your roommate may be nice and get you some, but they’ve got their own stuff to deal with too. They can’t exactly stick around the room to be your nurse, even if they are your friend. You’ve got to get off your butt and take care of yourself. If you’re in an apartment you’ve got to do the same, only with the added bonus of chores and no meal plan to ensure nourishment of some sort. There’s also school. Sure, you can skip a few classes if you really need to, but those essays and midterms aren’t going to do themselves. Missed lectures add up, and deadlines can only be pushed when you’ve got understanding instructors. College may not exactly be the same as the real world, but it’s closer than high school was.
You won’t get as many sympathy votes here either. No one is going to croon over you or make you feel like a martyr. Friends will feel bad and maybe bring by some food if they’re especially generous, but like we said before, they’ve got their own business to take care of. You could complain to your Walgreens pharmacist if you’re really desperate, but somehow we feel they probably have better things to do too. Like their jobs, for instance.
If you’ve got more than just the sniffles, you should head down to the Tang Center and get it checked out. If it’s just the changing weather that’s got you down, we prescribe some cold medicine and a healthy dose of toughing it out. We’re supposed to be grownups now.
Image source: Terekhova under Creative Commons
