Fall Break
October 21st, 2025
Writer: Sophia Wohl
Editor: Dani Cohen
There is something so special about going home for the first time during your college years. You spend the warmer months of August and September on your university’s quad and watch as the leaves change and the air turns crisp; knowing that in just a few weeks you will be walking on the Main Street of your hometown, watching football in front of the fire, and taking a mental picture of the time spent with the family you miss year-round.
Sometimes I wonder why I can’t just stay home. But I hear myself and I sound so stupid. I should be enjoying my time and living my life, these are supposed to be the best moments of my life. And that they are, but if it were up to me, I would stow my family in my carry-on and take them all the way back to Columbus.
I have never been one to feel homesick. I went to sleep away camp, and I am nine hours from home, but I find myself yearning for how it used to be. My siblings and I yelling across the halls to each other, my friends and I driving to Starbucks every morning before school. I must remind myself that this is no longer my life, just a faint memory, and that home is no longer permanent. But how am I supposed to let go of my home?
Soon the cycle will repeat, I will move to a new city, away from my college town, likely further from my home, and I will be forced to start again. But how do you find comfort in leaving everything you love?
I am reminded of the love and warmth I feel from miles away, and I remember I will soon get a break again. I will sit with my family, watching the Giants lose on a beautiful Thanksgiving afternoon, and I will hang the ornaments on my Christmas tree once more. But I am filled with the thought that this is no longer my permanent residence, and although this is where my family lives, this is no longer my home.
So again, I yearn for the days I get to go “home” for fall break, and sleep in the bed that my mother would tuck me into many years ago. And I dream of the days I would walk around town and buy candy from the candy shops and go to Friday night football games, because it will never be like this again.
Take this fall break to realign with your younger self. Do everything you used to before you age out of what you love. I am choosing to take this break and pick a few pumpkins and shake down some apples. But most importantly, I am choosing to use this break as a time to show appreciation for what I love.
