Battling Homesickness

"Man, it's so great to be on my own at college!"

"I love this place! I never want to go home again!"

"They can close the dorms over winter break, but they'll have to lock me up inside 'em!"

We've all said these things, sure, but what we're thinking is much different:

"This place sucks! I want to be somewhere where my room is bigger than a broom closet!"

"These nights are too damn quiet for me; get me back to where you can't go an hour without a train whistling or a dog barking or a drive-by!"

"My roommate eats all my food, the dorm is always too cold, there's never any place or time to just sit and think peacefully, I can't take a shower without a line forming behind me; dear Lord, get me out of here!"

You can deny it as much as you want, but inside you know the truth: you're homesick. It may not be a constant issue, but it's something that everyone goes through every now and then whether they want to or not. So here's another patented self-help list from ZimmyTech (tm) to help stave away those Home Sweet Home (image, by the way, is courtesy of this site) Blues:

• Think about everything you don't like about home. Maybe the water in the shower is a little too cold. Maybe the neighborhood is always embroiled in gang wars. Just whatever little irritating thing that only gets at you when you're home. Reinforcing the negative like this will help you focus on the positive of being away.
• Keep pictures of your family handy. Anytime you get a little blue, just pull it up and think about how much better off they are without your expensive fanny at home sucking up all their food and water. You want your family to be happy, don't you?
• Make the most of your visits. Many people make regular trips home over the course of the semester. If you're one of these people, spend time with your family while you're there and make the most of your stay so the wait until the next one will be less drawn-out.
• Watch a few episodes of The Brady Bunch and imagine you're going home to that family. The mere thought should be enough to make you never want to leave campus again.
  

Commuting

Let's talk for a second about something that a lot of us have to put up with: commuting (picture courtesy of this site). Commuting is one of those simple little things that just about everyone has to put up with sooner or later, be it for work, school, or whatever. It's not as frustrating as online homework, but it's still not very enjoyable. It's just one of those little irritants that you just have to withstand every now and then.

We all know the procedure: get in car, drive to destination, try not to lose mind in process. I don't know if it's like this for other people, but I absolutely hate driving. Hate. And every time I have to commute, I feel a little bit of myself slipping away ever steadily into the gaping maw of insanity. To that end, I have composed a short list of simple activities you can enact to try to make those commuting hours as bearable as possible; enjoy!

• Play "Spot the Tree"; every time you see a tree, you scream. With so many trees around here, you'll be so hoarse that you won't even care about that boring commute any more!
• Wave at the people who pass you in the opposite direction. Give yourself a point for everyone who waves back. Works best for carpools of three or more.
• Count the reflective bumps on the road. See how many are still there and how many have come unglued. You'll be so nauseatingly sick of this game that you won't be able to contain your excitement to reach your destination!
• Just turn on the damn radio. Maybe you'll get lucky and a station will play I Heard it Through the Grapevine, and a little CCR can only make your day better