For all the freshmen out there, congratulations on making it through your first quarter at Northwestern. Maybe you’ve “learned some rules like don’t pass out with your shoes on,” but there are, in fact, several things to keep in mind as you head for your first long trip back home.
Call Your Parents When You Go Out
Why are vacation nights different from all other nights? Many of your parents are still going to want to know where you are and when you plan on coming home, despite the fact that they never know this information during the rest of the year. Don’t make them worry; just tell them when you’ll be back. And remember, they might be awake when you come home and will likely care a lot more than your floormates do what substances you smell like. Ask for a mini Febreeze bottle as a stocking-stuffer.
Don’t Hook Up With a Best Friend’s Ex
You may have become familiar with the phenomenon of the “turkey drop,” when long-distance couples call it quits at Thanksgiving. It would be bad form to pounce on the person your friend broke up with, especially since many turkey droppers end up kissing by midnight on New Year’s.
Don’t be a Tool
You’re a smart kid and you go to a good school. Maybe your friends are also smart kids and go to good schools. That doesn’t mean you should be obnoxious about it. By all means, tell people about your new life, but when your friend from Yale gushes about the square footage of her dorm room, don’t feel you need to counter with a tour guide-style schpiel about NU. It’s petty and makes people feel embarrassed for you.
Hang with Your Siblings
Sometimes going away to school is the best thing that can happen in the relationship between siblings. The forced separation makes you miss one another, so when you reunite you might find yourselves inadvertently bonding. If you used to avoid your brothers and sisters like the plague, dedicate some time now to reconnect with them. Go shopping together for gifts for your parents or chill out eating leftovers after a family gathering. You might be surprised at how much better you seem to understand one another.
Visit Your High School
Maybe you loved high school. Maybe you got swirlies every day and never want to see those scoundrels again. Regardless, you should visit your alma mater. It’s a little weird to go back and realize, despite your being student body president, editing the newspaper, captaining three sports teams, being mock trial’s star litigator and leading in every musical, you are totally inconsequential. But it’s good for you. It builds character. More importantly, you will have some great conversations with your former teachers. They’ll talk to you like the real person you are now.
Play Catch-Up
The first break is, well, a little weird. While you and your friends are used to being completely intertwined in one another’s lives (for better or worse), now you all have brand new routines, friends and stories. It’s going to take a little while and a lot of Facebook creeping to get everyone up to speed, but that’s part of the fun. Try a rousing game of never-have-I-ever; you’ll be shocked at how much faster the game ends than it did back in August.
