Spring Break is here for one full, glorious week, and those of us not traveling to exotic destinations are likely spending a little time back home. After living in dorms or apartments for the first half of the semester, it’s time to kick back and enjoy home life again, even if it’s just for a short and sweet reliever. As you relish all of your at-home habits and indulgences, here are a few things I know you missed from home while at school in Charlottesville.
1. Food — that’s the whole heading, just food
Nothing beats chowing down on your favorite home-cooked meal that brings loved ones together and leaves you full — a good full. If I asked you what your favorite part of the meal is, you probably wouldn’t be able to decide. The main course is obviously killer, but the sides have also got a little something up their sleeve. For all you fellow sweet-tooths, maybe what you’ve been craving most is some of your family’s baking. Whether it be chocolate chip cookies or slices of pumpkin bread, nothing rivals a sweet treat from home, and it likely has to do with who’s wielding the whisk.
2. Look who’s got their room back
Whether you share a room with someone, have adjoining rooms or have your own apartment at school, being back in your room at home — a likely more permanent fixture in your life — feels good. Maybe it’s being able to sleep in your own bed again, or maybe that mattress is just a bit larger than the one you have at school. Maybe it’s laying on the floor and reading or scrolling on Instagram. Perhaps it’s being surrounded by some childhood treasures — stuffed animals, dust-covered Lego sets or Harry Potter wands — that make old memories come flooding back. Whatever that special spark about your bedroom may be, being back never felt so relaxing.
3. Showering without shoes — how normal
First-years and every other sanitary person living in dorms — when’s the last time your bare feet touched a shower floor? When was the last time you actually wanted your bare feet to touch the shower floor? Though you may not think anything of it, you will most definitely appreciate taking a regular shower without worrying about foot fungi or other nasty ailments. The shower experience is incomplete without being grounded. Let’s be real — carefully slipping your foot out of a flip flop one at a time to wash them is just not it.
4. The ugly sweater makes a revival
While lounging around at home, I’ve found that I care more about the comfort of my outfit than its presentability. Who are we trying to impress, really? We both know that you love wearing those wild sweatpants in your house. Not only does the type of outfit make you feel cozy, but the design of those clothes — the graphic, quote or print — also makes you smile. I have a very unattractive, neon blue angry Mickey Mouse sweatshirt from Paris that is calling my name this break.
5. Best seat in the house
There’s always that one spot at home that you gravitate to when you want to get away from it all and just relax. It’s the perfect spot for curling up with a good book or playing your favorite card game, complete with optimal leg room and cushioning. Now that you’ve returned home, do you find yourself reading this very sentence from the comfort of that spot? Odds are you’ll spend some quality time in this comfortable, oh-so-wonderful nook or cranny. This Spring Break, you’ll find me nestled in the corner of the living room couch underneath a blanket.
6. Re-immersion into family life
Whenever I go back home and sit down for the first family meal, I feel like an observer. I notice the typical rhythm of the family dinner that took place without me there. I become reacquainted with the hum of silverware, ice clinking in glasses and the normal conversations about work and school that fill the room. It takes no time to become re-acclimated to these family activities and movie nights, which I'm sure are some of your favorite parts of being home.
7. Rediscovering familiar trails
If you’ve left your car at home for the semester, or even if you do some Charlottesville driving, taking a spin out on familiar roads and routes again is a great way to unwind. Whether it be for a specific purpose like buying groceries or for an outdoor escape to let your thoughts drift away, going out for a ride along those hometown paths is the best. The autonomy of driving matched with the familiarity of the journey feels like paradise. For me, driving around my neighborhood while jamming out to Queen is an unparalleled experience.
8. Cherished time with friends
Spring Break is a great opportunity to spend time with friends who fill you with a sense of home. Whether they be high school compatriots or long-time childhood pals, there’s something about good friends that invites you to be vulnerable, yourself and downright goofy. Whether you’re giving life updates with a PowerPoint night or catching up over some good food, reconnecting with friends from home never gets old and always comes at just the right time.
9. Restaurant dibs
While home with family over break, they will undoubtedly let you pick a restaurant to visit before you are once again subjected to dining hall food. This, my friends, is what I have dubbed “restaurant dibs.” Whatever restaurant or café you always asked your family to go to as a kid — or once you got older, realized you could take yourself to — is now within driving distance. If going out for a family meal, play the card of only being home for a week and enjoy the atmosphere and grub of your favorite restaurant, whether it be fine dining or cheap eats. For me, I’ll be requesting a trip to a local Bucks County, Penn. Mexican restaurant, Los Sarapes.
10. Expedited bathroom trips
While at home this Spring Break, I 100 percent bet that making late-night trips to the bathroom feels so much easier and more accessible. No longer is taking a shower a whole laborious process of having to assemble your amenities, cover up on trips to and from the bathroom and ignore the unidentifiable film on the shower curtain and walls. Forget something in your room? No biggie, just take five steps down the hall to get it. You don’t need a code to enter the bathroom at home either. That short and private commute — once again in bare feet, I cannot emphasize this enough — is just heavenly.
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