When you move across the country to go to school, winter break is one of the few times a year you can go home. For me, I am always busy during the summer so I basically don’t go home except for winter and spring break. That means I have to see all my family and friends in the three short weeks I get to be in Orlando.
Feeling like you have to pack everything can be stressful especially since I wanted to have this break to relax! Between going to watch my old dance friends perform in the Nutcracker and going to Disney as much as possible, I was tired out after being home only four days.
Unpopular opinion: DisneyWorld is so much better than DisneyLand, I mean look at our castle, it's amazing!
Luckily I had some forced relaxation time because my family went on a road trip, or what my mother called the “Cami Family Tour” where we stopped to see as many relatives as possible because this is the only time a year I can visit. Having to answer a lot of questions about school, I got to reflect on what a crazy adventure it’s been so far!
I spent most ofthe holiday with my cousins who had flown in from Germany and were constantly asking me what “American college” is like. Movies defined how they saw school in America, so I think they were a bit surprised when they learned that frat parties aren’t the only thing we do and that Legally Blonde isn’t a good example of what it’s like to go to an elite school. After having an incredibly draining first semester, it felt good to just talk about what I loved about school and what I was excited for in the spring. So while I had to listen to why the German school system is so great, I also learned to really appreciate my experience so far at USC.
Going on break was something I was desperate for by the time fall semester had ended, but I honestly felt ready to come back to school by the time January came around. I will miss my friends a lot and wish I could have spent more time with them. Keeping up with everyone can be super challenging during the school year, especially when there is a time difference, so I was lucky all of my closest friends and I got to go on a mini vacation to a house my parents are renting out near Hilton Head. We had a fun girls trip where we really got to reconnect and talk about school, boys, life plans, and basically everything in between. It was cool to see how much our schools had an influence on us and became part of our identity. I am now proudly what people in the south call (with a little bit of disgust) a “Californian.” So while we all are still best friends, we have all changed and grown up a bit, something this winter break seemed to reveal. I am happy that our college experiences have had such an impact on us and can’t wait to see what the next couple of years (and breaks) have in store!