Going Home for Thanksgiving 2.0: Through the years

Preparing to go home for the holidays? Depending on your class year, Thanksgiving break poses an entirely different challenge. While freshman to sophomore year may see the greatest change, the upperclassman angst is just as real. Family interrogation:

• Freshman year: “Sweetie!!! How’s school? Friends are good? Classes are good? Food is good? Are you eating enough? Doing laundry? Should I send you food? Clothes? Want us to come visit soon? Next weekend? Just for the day?”
• Sophomore year: “Do you have a boyfriend? Why don’t you have a boyfriend? I don’t believe you, there have to be SOME nice Jewish boys! Did you hear your cousin got herself a boyfriend? Better get moving. Grandchildren? It looks like the food is good this year, you look, uh, healthy! Maybe I should stop sending snacks? Okay, but really, no boyfriend?”
• Upperclassmen: “Wait, what did you say your major was? Is that really a good idea? Are you sure employers like that? No? Grad schools? Are you going to grad school? Do you even get grades at Brown? Is it too late to do computer science? I hear that’s hot these days. What about your friends? Do they have jobs? Boyfriends?”

 Seeing your friends:

• Freshman year: “REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!” You’ve missed your friends SO much since leaving for school, and now nothing sounds better than seeing EVERYONE from your past! Yes, that includes your exes, their entire families, and everyone else you’ve ever known!
• Sophomore year: “What are you talking about, I’m just here to see my mom.”
• Upperclassmen: “No seriously, Mom, please hang out with me. I miss you. Yes, I’m fine, I just want to hang out. No, Mom, you can’t go to work today, you promised you’d hang out with me. No, I don’t want to call my friends, why would you even suggest that?”

 Sleeping in your room:

• Freshman year: Nothing is better than sleeping in your bed for the first time since going to college. The temperature is normal, the room is quiet, and your bed isn’t ten feet off the ground. Incredible.
• Sophomore year: You arrive home only to find that your room has been magically transformed into a storage unit, and somehow all of your own stuff has disappeared. Are your parents trying to send you a message? Or perhaps they actually just forgot about you?
• Upperclassmen: At this point, the storage unit has been entirely renovated and is a fully functioning guest room. Your grandmother has moved in. The carpet has been replaced with needlepoint. There’s a cat in the corner. Don’t worry, though, there’s a brand new air mattress in the basement.

 Being back in your neighborhood:

• Freshman year: Even if you only have three days at home, you’ll find a way to make it to every restaurant you’ve ever loved since age four. You’ll probably even go to each one with a different high school friend, lining up back-to-back dates for every second you’re home.
• Sophomore year: At this point, leaving your house means accepting the possibility of seeing someone you know, and it is simply not worth it. Have your little brother bring home your favorite sandwich for you, or maybe just go without food for a few days. You’ll be fine.
• Upperclassmen: “Mom, where are you going? Whole Foods? Oh, I’ll come too. You don’t need help? Yeah, but I wanna come. Mom? What do you mean I should put on real clothes? Do I know anybody here? Am I supposed to care? Oh, you care?"

 Image via.