Acorn

Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Merion Read

The most frequently cited perks of going home for any period of time include being able to sleep in your own bed and eating good food. Some benefits that are often overlooked include the fact that you no longer have to warn a roommate about your imminent nudity when getting changed, you don't have to see dozens of people whenever you want to eat a meal, and you don't have to worry about floormates watching you dripping drool while brushing your teeth.

I failed to consider such potential problems before I moved in last year. I was more concerned with getting along with my roommate and finding my classes, so I unfortunately failed to fully appreciate one-person bathrooms and other joys that living at home has to offer.

In hindsight, I should've become a hermit for the month before I departed for college so that I would crave human interaction at the same time it was forcibly thrust upon me. Anyway, a few hours after my father left me alone to be a big girl, I realized that I missed my family, friends and my bed more than I had anticipated, and the feeling of "what the hell do I do now?" hit me like a boulder to the kidneys.

At this point in time, my roommate was being social at one of the optional orientation activities and I was sitting in my "cinderblock solitary confinement-esque" room like a loser, when tears started welling up in my eyes. The threat of my roommate's return loomed, yet I did not want to become that weird girl crying in the bathroom. I began searching for a place where I could let the floodgates open without being bothered.

An irrational emo moment was taking over my mind, and seeing more strangers would have exponentially amplified the awkwardness of not knowing anyone.

I don't know what a normal person would do in this situation, but I dragged my puffy-eyed, tear-streaked, over-emotional self down the Tolley stairs in search of some solitude. Instead, I found the laundry room. This did not improve my mental health-in fact, it fueled my hysterical crying. I decided that someone could have already soiled his or her clothing and be in need of Tolley's laundering services. The laundry room wasn't safe. I then realized that there was really nowhere on campus where I could have my ridiculous episode with a zero percent chance that someone would find me and half-heartedly attempt to assuage my childish worries. Defeated, I decided to hide in the corner at the bottom of the stairs, planning to somehow render myself invisible if another human appeared. Luckily, no one came by, and I was able to sob some sense back into myself.

Continued...

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