Returning back to the school grind after a very long break can be one of the most difficult things a college student has to face. I go to school a little under 3000 miles from home. Consequently, I get homesick. That’s to be expected, right?

The first semester as a college freshman was great. I did not feel the sting of homesickness so much because I felt the buzz of excitement of the newness of it all. When I went back for winter break I learned to appreciate everything on a whole new level: my mother’s cooking, my little brother’s hugs, and my father’s long and rambling stories. When I flew back to school for the Spring Semester I was stuck in a rut of intensely painful homesickness.

I got through it though, schoolwork and friends made sure of it. I thought that the second time around the post-winter break homesickness would not be so bad. Turns out that thought was not completely correct, nor was it completely wrong.

I still felt that homesickness but it is not as crippling as last year’s was. It’s up to us to have the willpower to turn the winter woes into ‘winter woahs!’. Try to do something fun or crazy for a little while every day. Yes we are college students and that demands a certain modicum of maturity but lets not forget that we are young people too! It’s okay to allow yourself to get lost in Boston, or binge on a tub of Ghirardelli’s ice cream. Let’s not forget snow ice cream also.

Seriously, you can turn any bad situation into a good one with the right amount of creativity and chutzpah. So chin up buttercup, and get started on your Winter Woahs.