As spring break approaches, some students are off to sunny beaches, snow-filled ski resorts or just the relaxing environment of their own home. But for some, that plane ticket home is destined for an entirely new city.
Whether it is due to work constraints or restless empty nesters, for many students the return home is not to the house they grew up in.
Freshman Laura Coye grew up in Mamaroneck, N.Y., but her parents recently moved to Taipei, Taiwan, for work-related reasons. Over the summer Coye will stay in a rented apartment in her old town with her mother and sister. Although her parents are now far away, Coye takes an optimistic approach.
“It’s exciting because it opens up a lot of travel opportunities to places I wouldn’t be able to go to,” she said. “I was born in Taiwan so it kind of completes the cycle.”
Despite the distance, the move has had little impact on Coye and her family.
“I still see them the same amount, so it’s not a huge change,” said Coye. “It’s easy to keep in touch. I e-mail them a lot and they set up calling plans so it’s really cheap to call internationally. It’s kind of tricky with the time difference, but once you figure it out, it’s not that bad.”
For many others, the distance affects their relationships with friends from home, not their family. Freshman Hannah Bonomo recently moved 45 minutes away to a different part of Westchester County, N.Y. While remaining in the same state, the move still makes keeping in touch a bit more difficult.
“The hardest part was I didn’t know my way around the new town,” said Bonomo. “Even when my friends came to visit me, I didn’t know where to take them. Also, since I don’t have my own car, I couldn’t just go visit them on a whim.”
Freshman Lucie Germain, who will be moving into New York City from the suburbs this summer, shares Bonomo’s sentiment.
“It will suck during the summer, but it will be okay,” she said. “I’m just going to live at friends’ houses over the weekend. Both my sisters live in the city, and it’s a cool location because there’s all this new stuff there.”
While Germain is more optimistic about city life, Bonomo misses her suburban home.
“Where I live now is more urban. I miss seeing familiar faces at shops and restaurants,” said Bonomo.
For freshman Erica Woodruff, who moved from California, moving is nothing new, but this time produced some unexpected change.
“Initially, I didn’t really care because I moved a lot in my life, but once I did move I was upset at having to leave my friends early,” said Woodruff. “Also, I don’t get to see [my friends] over breaks, which I didn’t realize.”
For many, keeping in touch with friends throughout the semester is hard enough, but living in a new area poses even greater problems for the students who have moved.
Whether it is through Facebook, the phone or an old-fashioned visit, though, keeping in contact is always possible.
“I was really upset because I thought the transition to college was hard enough and separating me from my friends at home would be even harder,” said Bonomo. “I knew they were thinking about moving closer to the city for awhile, but I didn’t think it would be as soon as I left for college. When I came to college I already had to filter out who I was going to keep in touch with and this made me decide who my real friends are-who’s worth keeping in contact with.”
Woodruff also understands the effects on old friendships.
“At the same time it strengthens our friendships because I know we can’t just hang out over break, so there’s more of an effort to keep in touch,” said Woodruff.