The holidays are almost upon us, as Thanksgiving and winter break are just around the corner. It is the time of the year when many people make that short drive back home to their families.
Most people are looking forward to their own rooms and home-cooked food while at the same time dreading their nagging moms and house chores.
For many students at UCI, that 15-minute drive back home on weekends has been a routine. Home has become a place to do laundry for free, eat a good, hot meal and sleep in the comfort of your own room. It is just a place to get away from your second home in Irvine.
On the other hand, my home is 10,000 miles away, across the Pacific in a tiny island called Singapore. That’s where I’d go to do free laundry, complain about chores and ignore my parents.
It has been 10 months and 24 days since the last time I went home, the longest stretch I have been away from my family. This winter break, I will not be able to go home.
All this time, I have been able to handle the constant homesickness. But with the holiday season coming up, it’s particularly hard to ignore the fact that home is, literally, an ocean away.
My experience of being so far away from home has made me realize that it is a place that provides us with so much more than small annoyances and free stuff.
Home is where you bond with your siblings by watching your favorite movie or tease your mom when she mispronounces a word.