COLUMN: School: A home away from home
Back to school, back to school. I’ve proved to Dad that I’m not a fool (in GPA terms), so he has thankfully agreed to sacrifice his credit card and allow me to further my education at this wonderful institution I now officially call home.
After a semester of sheer confusion concerning which city to actually call home and exactly which phone number I had listed as “home” in my cell phone (“Mom? I thought I called my … Oooh.”), I had, during the break, what I consider to be a breakthrough. I still get a little choked up just thinking about it, but the instant I caught myself saying “when I go back home,” not “back to school” or “back to Logan,” I knew exactly which number deserved the title “home” in the voice activation of my cell phone. Ah yes, it is good to be home.
Even though I have a new home, that doesn’t mean I enjoy my first home any less. No, sir. There is nothing better than re-enacting the same riveting conversation with every person you come in contact with for three straight weeks. “Yeah, I go to Utah State. I really like it. Yep, it’s a lot of fun. Yeah…” I even went to a high school basketball game to see my little brother play and was quickly reminded of my deep appreciation for 14- and 15-year-old girls in school-colored fishnets and mass quantities of glitter hairspray. Now that is school spirit at its finest.
But blatant sarcasm aside, I enjoyed my break. Among other activities, I visited some friends at BYU-Idaho and we had a great time staying in after 11, reading about the dress code and rules in the student handbook and listing all the people from our graduating class who are now married, engaged or pregnant.
If you could see the length of that list, you might have guessed we graduated in the mid-’90s, but no, we graduated last year. Kids these days. I’m sure that since Idaho has the highest percentage of married people in the nation, my fellow classmates were simply trying to keep the state at the top of the list. Potatoes and marriages. Way to go, Idaho.
I found myself very concerned with everyone’s good standing at the school and didn’t hesitate to strictly enforce the chastity line. (“Step back from the bedroom area Clark, no one needs to get hurt tonight.”) I also evaluated all the boys’ hairstyles and ensured that no overalls were worn at any point during the night. I was successful.
One thing that I, like many of you may have, looked forward to for the break was the opening of the third “Lord of the Rings” movie. So, when a boy called and asked my sister if she would go with him to the midnight premiere, I was, what one might call, not happy for her. After my jealous rage subsided, I realized that most of my other friends were either still in school or didn’t share my same desire to pay $8 to go see the movie. Thus, my dramatic ear-plugging and humming whenever that night or the movie in general is discussed.
Yes, my first home has been good to me, but it is time to accept my second home and appreciate all that it has to offer now. Things like hoping no one was watching during class when you were awakened by the head-bob, everyone’s instant silence and fascination with the buttons on the elevator and various Shania Twain songs on repeat daily in the neighbor’s room are what really give college life character. You know how people say “It’s OK, it gives you character” when a person has some visible problem? I think that is how college life can be. I don’t mean those things give it character so much in the bushy eyebrows or discolored birthmark sense, but more in a sense that there are some questionable parts, but overall, what’s not to love?
Lindsay Kite is a freshman majoring in print journalism. With questions, comments or if you are also in favor of adopting the no-overalls rule on the USU campus, contact lindsaykite@cc.usu.edu.