In case you haven’t checked Twitter: Summer is over, it went very quickly and most of the people that I follow have now put some sad iteration of “I want to be young forever, I wish I was a freshman”.

Well, let me toss a few more logs on the homesickness fire.

1.       Your Pets: I got your snap chats.  I get that you love your dog.  Everyone else feels the same way about their dog, trust me.  Your best friend since you were a child is just chilling at home with your mom, wondering when you are going to come home.  You miss your dog, and your dog misses you more.  You could ask your mom to send you pictures of your dog, or if you are a weirdo (you know who you are) you could even skype with Todo.  Go visit your dog at thanksgiving, he misses you. 

2.       Your Parents: Whether or not you want to admit it, you are totally going to miss your parents.  My Mom does my laundry (mostly because she won’t let me touch the washing machine anymore, it’s a long story). It’s pretty great having someone looking after you, and it may be annoying to have your Dad bother you about watering the plants or something, but you will totally miss these people.  It’s one thing if you live in Carmel and they tailgate every home game, but some of us won’t see our parents until the fabled “Dad’s Weekend” or even Christmas. I’ll be the first to say that I miss my mommy.

3.       Your Summer Job: This one is going to hit you pretty hard.  All summer long you were working at a frozen yogurt shop and babysitting at night, while filling your pockets.  Well brace yourself, because Brother’s has new drink specials, and there is a new food store within walking distance from your beautiful sorority house.  

4.       Your Refrigerator: It’s no secret that institutionalized food is a constant bag of suck.  I hear my brothers complain about our cook all the time.  I don’t live in, but I have eaten enough of his food to know that that almost all of us could do a better job given the same resources.  At home we are all free to cook whatever we want to eat, and everyone misses that at school. 

5.       Quiet Time / Your Personal Space: The nicest part of being home is the occasional quiet.  Fraternities and sororities are always running at max volume.  It can become really hard to find somewhere to just hang out in the silence for a while.  Hand in hand with this, living in Greek housing can become tedious because there is so little personal space. There are constantly people in your room, walking through your hallway and in the shower with you. Frat/Srat life has little privacy.   

There you have it, the five things that you left at home.  Have a great first week, stay safe, make good choices and enjoy rush.