Column:
Going home for the weekend bolsters spirits
Published March 5, 2010
Sometimes you just need to step back and get away.
I'm very apt to get a bit of cabin fever when I'm in the same place for too long. Back in my hometown, Odessa, there isn't much available within the city itself, so we have to go to other cities for most activities.
Movies, shopping and bowling are all activities we have to do elsewhere, which means some almost daily traveling — not to mention you can see the countryside from almost anywhere in town. Although the campus here is beautiful, and there are plenty of trees and flowers, it simply isn't the same.
Apart from just missing the scenery, it's also the act of traveling I miss.
Being a car-less freshman on the MU campus in the middle of winter has led to me spending most of my time in a very confined space.
I'm used to traveling from my hometown to Columbia for basketball games all winter, speech and debate trips to towns an hour or more away every weekend during our season and going to Kansas City to eat and get my hair done on weekends.
My town might be small -- the city limits being roughly the same size as the MU campus — but that's just reason to go more places. One summer I was lucky enough to visit a friend who was living on an army base in Germany. This love for going to new, scenic places has been reawakened by the Olympic games in Vancouver. Nothing makes you want to go stand in front of a mountain than seeing the view from the top of a slalom course on television.
Subsequently, I've been longing to get off campus for awhile now.
Having a new puppy at home, my sister being too busy to come to the basketball games this past month (sporting events have become the standard for interaction with my family), and ending a round of papers and tests for each of my four classes also contributed to my desire to get off campus and back to little ole Odessa.
When I got home Friday, my first activity was to meet this new puppy, Emma, who quite obviously had no reservations about meeting me.
"Puppy" here is a loosely-attributed term. Emma is a 9 month-old cross between a collie and a golden retriever and is large enough to bowl me over in her enthusiasm. I definitely wasn't expecting such a warm welcome.
It was a pretty quiet weekend, but in the best ways. I ran around with my sister and watched the Olympics and the MU game with my family, while getting to eat my favorite foods, which I don't get here.
My biggest annoyance the entire time was my mom letting the dog into my room Saturday morning, saying, "Who's that in your bed, Emma?"
Because I have a pink satin bedspread, my worst fear is a big, hairy, clawed dog in my bed while I'm away. However, Emma isn't allowed unsupervised in the house, so I'm led to conclude this was my mom exhibiting her usual sense of humor.
Although I got next to nothing done over the weekend in terms of schoolwork, I think it was necessary respite from campus life.