A quick glance at yesterday's cover of The Dartmouth shows two East Wheelock students embraced in a heartfelt, tear-jerking reunion. This Hallmark moment, beautifully captured by Alicia Modeen '08 (35mm, Alicia?) offers students a glimpse at the plethora of benefits that vacations provide. While college life has its many perks and social advantages, temporary deprivation of those things can make for a joyful return. While life at home may seem uninspiring and downright boring to some, boredom itself is often discouraged by social pressures.
It seems that parents are working more and more to fill their children's lives with activities that will ultimately yield college acceptance. Some enroll their children in three sports, after-school secondary language classes and computer skills courses as elementary schoolers to give their kids a fighting chance in high school. Once they are in high school, guidance counselors, like drug pushers of pedagogy, steer over-achievers to community service groups, after-school activities and anything short of blood-letting and child sacrifice that will impress admissions officers.
In light of over-achievement, there is always the looming question of summer internships: should you miss out on a two-week foray into investment banking over spring break for daytime TV? Perhaps. It seems overwhelming to jump from a hectic school schedule right into that scary world where work is paid with real money (thank goodness that sycophant etiquette does not change). Before full-time jobs dominate our lives, home offers a last sanctuary of leisure.
After a break full of, well, nothing, I declare nihilism the ideal. While work is rewarding, there should be a noble respect for relaxation. While it may seem everyone has a lucrative internship at Pierce & Pierce or is voluntarily nursing cute animals back to health, do not be ashamed if your breaks seem gaunt in comparison. Spring break has proved that the laws of stationary inertia are a pleasure to witness firsthand.
No, I do not suggest that sitting on the couch watching "The L Word" on mute for weeks upon end is a healthy lifestyle (but come on, with TiVo I can watch them kiss in slow-mo!). However, home life is definitely a healthy break from the chaotic bustle of school. A two-week period of relaxation gives your limp liver a chance to recover, your brain a relief from constant philosophical queries (how to winterize?), and your sleepless body a chance for some well-deserved rejuvenation. While time at home offers many physical benefits, a social change can often provide perspective on the college experience too.
It is a strange feeling to be immersed in a world without much authority. We, in this transitional stage between adolescence and adulthood, experience a metamorphosis of social roles. We are self-governing, and for those of you who have seen Mean Girls, you already know that young adult relationships are often tenuous bonds that can easily be broken. Or so I've heard, from girls who have seen the movie and are definitely not me.
Authority figures at home instill students with a sense of responsibility, self-respect and respect for others. While at college a saucepan theft will go unpunished and that pile of dirty clothes will be left to ferment, a relatively fastidious parent keeps us in check. Sometimes we forget that we are not adults just yet and that it is all right to be a dependent.
And for those who felt socially deprived, being away from Dartmouth only made it seem better upon arrival. Not only do you reunite with friends, but a removal from the Dartmouth paradise makes the return enthralling. Fellow students seem rejuvenated, excited and happy to be back. As a soldier returns from battle to a loving wife, so too the undergraduate returns with an impassioned heart each term. You only know how good something is when you lose it (no sex jokes, please).
And let us not forget about the institution of family, which can hardly be approximated by dorm life (however maternal my roommate may be)! Family time should be cherished. While friends are closely knit acquaintances, vacations offer some of the last times students may be living with those compelled by social norms to love them. It is hard to know if anyone at Dartmouth truly loves you, while hopefully home offers a feeling of unconditional acceptance.
Even journalists can feel fuzzy inside too. I know this one does.
