COLUMN: Difficult readjustment of going back home

It is an occasion that many students look forward to - scattering to all corners of the country and beyond for (in most cases) a well-earned rest.

I am one of those many thousands, retreating home from my student-digs for some nicely cooked food, the company of familiar faces and a free washing service (sorry mum).

However for the first few weeks being back home, I find there is a difficult period of readjustment.

After months of being in control of your own destiny, there is now suddenly a structure to adhere to and chores to be done when other people say so.

You are often your own best friend whilst away and though you live with others, you often do things, such as cooking and washing, by yourself.

This means you start to develop your own routine, away from back home that simply works for you.

This makes getting used to the accommodating, selfless nature of family life again is quite difficult and sometimes you begin to question why you have decided to come back for so long.

I am aware that I possibly sound like I am being ungrateful for what my parents give me, but believe me I am not.

I fully recognise the sacrifices they make for me and the patience they have to keep smiling when I turn up back home with all my dirty laundry - expecting it to be cleaned.

A lot of home life is better, I think. It is always lovely to see those you leave behind when you study away and I am yet to meet a student can cook anything as good as they get it ‘back home.’

However, it is an odd situation to be in. You feel like you have left home, because you have your independence whilst away studying, but you haven’t quite made the final step into the big,scary world yet.

You become torn between family life and uni life and that can sometimes be difficult to get your head around when you first arrive back home.

You might now be reading this, thinking ‘If you don’t like it, why not just stay away?’ On my course, you are given over three months off a year - that is an awful lot of time to spend in your own company.

Also, after a term here, I want to go home. You miss people and it is nice to escape the thoughts of essays and exams for a while. Regardless of how much of a pain it might be to switch back into ‘home-mode’ I would do it every time. My family are simply too important to me to do otherwise.