Purple Haze
These things we call home
By Lauren Bagian

March 18, 2010

There is quite a big difference between taking a college visit for research purposes and taking one because you are accepted to the school and now you are allowed to fall in love with it. When I received my acceptance letter to my chosen dream school and therefore permission to fall absolutely head-over-heels in love, the first thing I did (after buying a sweatshirt with my university’s logo online and rush shipping it) was schedule my next visit.

The post-acceptance visit is the one where you can finally open your eyes and imagine yourself there. You can see yourself walking down the sidewalks to class, eating in the little cafes in the surrounding area and studying in the gorgeous libraries. You pass current students and wonder if you’ll ever meet them in a classroom setting, or if they’ll be your RA when you move into your first dorm room and learn how to share a space with another human being who you aren’t directly related to. It is a daunting and incredibly exciting experience.

However, just because you fall in love with your “new home” does not mean that your “old home” suddenly disappears. I hear a lot of new college students say that they won’t be home until Thanksgiving only to appear for Farmers’ Fair and Homecoming a short month after moving into their dorms. There is an eternal love that is attached to home that can never be dissolved, so for all those parents who are afraid you will never see your child again after the last box has been unpacked, never fear, it won’t be long until they are begging for a home cooked meal and ask you to do their laundry. You may say that the work of taking care of a child is even more of a hassle now that you’ve had a break from it with your student being out on his or her own, but deep down, you love it too.