There's no doubt that my fall term of college did not go as planned as far as my family goes. Beginning college I was expecting to have to endure four long months of not seeing any of my immediate family. I'm a big family person and so I knew this would be hard for me. Instead I ended up seeing all of my family (both of my parents and my brother) this term. I was able to see my dad for two weekends in a row, I was able to spend a week with my mom and brother, and I have gotten to spend an extra two weekends with my mom. Despite having seen my parents a lot sooner than I had planned, there still were some tough times this term.
One perfect example was when my car battery needed to be replaced. I knew that the batteries were getting old and I had been disconnecting them when I wasn't using the car (which was pretty often). One day my roommate and I decided to drive into town. We walked over to my truck, I reconnected the battery...and nothing happened. The truck tried and tried but the batteries weren't strong enough to start my truck (yes batteries plural, I have two batteries for my truck). Long story short, two hours later, two campus security cars had to come and jump start me. Because of the time difference, it was a bit of a struggle to get ahold of my parents. I knew that it was finally time to replace the batteries but I had to get the "go-ahead" from my parents to buy the batteries considering it would be about $300. In the end, I got ahold of them, replaced the batteries by myself, cleaned all the battery acid off of one of the terminals, and replaced the bolts on the terminals. Although I was able to handle the physical work of fixing my battery problem it was more difficult to do because my parents don't live in the same country as I do.
Another example is when dad's weekend came around. (I will say though that my cousin came down and spent one of the days with me which I appreciate greatly) Seeing all of the students and dads walking around made me miss my dad a lot, especially because we're so close. Knowing that he would have no doubt been there if he could have was worse than the fact that he wasn't there. It was hard realizing that if my parents were stateside my dad would have been able to come and spend a weekend on campus with me. Thank goodness for my cousin so that I wasn't completely alone as my friends all spent time with their families.
Yet another example is when my boyfriend and I took our break. I'm a person who thinks best when I can talk to someone, that someone usually being my mother. Trying to communicate over the phone (and after having to wait all day just to talk for twenty minutes) made it more difficult for me to get all of my thoughts out and organized.
Now, the term is coming to a close and my mom is flying back (kind of) with me. The remainder of my first year will be hard I'm sure, for several different reasons, but it will be especially hard because this time it will be six months before I see my parents and there is no chance of them coming back.
One perfect example was when my car battery needed to be replaced. I knew that the batteries were getting old and I had been disconnecting them when I wasn't using the car (which was pretty often). One day my roommate and I decided to drive into town. We walked over to my truck, I reconnected the battery...and nothing happened. The truck tried and tried but the batteries weren't strong enough to start my truck (yes batteries plural, I have two batteries for my truck). Long story short, two hours later, two campus security cars had to come and jump start me. Because of the time difference, it was a bit of a struggle to get ahold of my parents. I knew that it was finally time to replace the batteries but I had to get the "go-ahead" from my parents to buy the batteries considering it would be about $300. In the end, I got ahold of them, replaced the batteries by myself, cleaned all the battery acid off of one of the terminals, and replaced the bolts on the terminals. Although I was able to handle the physical work of fixing my battery problem it was more difficult to do because my parents don't live in the same country as I do.
Another example is when dad's weekend came around. (I will say though that my cousin came down and spent one of the days with me which I appreciate greatly) Seeing all of the students and dads walking around made me miss my dad a lot, especially because we're so close. Knowing that he would have no doubt been there if he could have was worse than the fact that he wasn't there. It was hard realizing that if my parents were stateside my dad would have been able to come and spend a weekend on campus with me. Thank goodness for my cousin so that I wasn't completely alone as my friends all spent time with their families.
Yet another example is when my boyfriend and I took our break. I'm a person who thinks best when I can talk to someone, that someone usually being my mother. Trying to communicate over the phone (and after having to wait all day just to talk for twenty minutes) made it more difficult for me to get all of my thoughts out and organized.
Now, the term is coming to a close and my mom is flying back (kind of) with me. The remainder of my first year will be hard I'm sure, for several different reasons, but it will be especially hard because this time it will be six months before I see my parents and there is no chance of them coming back.