Solace found in journey home
Stephanie LaSota
Issue date: 10/11/06 Section: Opinion
Lock Haven isn't too far from my birthplace. It's a bit more than a two-hour stretch.
There is something absolutely calming about that small gap between my college town and my hometown.
There is a peace I find in driving that length of road between the small town I've called home for 21 years and the smaller town I've called home for almost four years.
It is easy for me to become consumed in Lock Haven. As a student, one acquires many responsibilities - academically and with extracurricular activities.
Friends we meet at school become like family and we cling to that comfort, spending every free moment we can with them.
We fill the rest of our time with studies, chores, work, sporting events, club activities, meetings and phone calls. Emails pile in and demand more of our time.
The external noise around us refuses to mute itself. Before we know it we're rushing from scheduled event to planned activity in a frenzied state of stress.
We begin to form a new life. College becomes more than just "education." It becomes a life experience. We learn more than academics. We learn how to live. We start to know ourselves - what we truly love and what, or maybe who, we would like to leave behind.
When things become too hectic we may start neglecting our passions in life.
We find that all the hours spent studying and working cause us to disregard our physical and spiritual health.
We barely take 15 minutes to eat a well-balanced meal before rushing to the next pending obligation.
We stop hearing the natural demands of our bodies like, "Get more than four hours of sleep" or "Try eating a vegetable."
Those of us whose hometown is more than an hour away from the university probably don't go home more than once every few weeks.
There is nothing like the feeling of getting away from the incessant demands of higher education for a weekend to remember where you once spent the majority of your time.
As I drive down I-80 E towards my parents' home, my mind is doing no more thinking than is necessary to operate a motor vehicle.
There is something absolutely calming about that small gap between my college town and my hometown.
There is a peace I find in driving that length of road between the small town I've called home for 21 years and the smaller town I've called home for almost four years.
It is easy for me to become consumed in Lock Haven. As a student, one acquires many responsibilities - academically and with extracurricular activities.
Friends we meet at school become like family and we cling to that comfort, spending every free moment we can with them.
We fill the rest of our time with studies, chores, work, sporting events, club activities, meetings and phone calls. Emails pile in and demand more of our time.
The external noise around us refuses to mute itself. Before we know it we're rushing from scheduled event to planned activity in a frenzied state of stress.
We begin to form a new life. College becomes more than just "education." It becomes a life experience. We learn more than academics. We learn how to live. We start to know ourselves - what we truly love and what, or maybe who, we would like to leave behind.
When things become too hectic we may start neglecting our passions in life.
We find that all the hours spent studying and working cause us to disregard our physical and spiritual health.
We barely take 15 minutes to eat a well-balanced meal before rushing to the next pending obligation.
We stop hearing the natural demands of our bodies like, "Get more than four hours of sleep" or "Try eating a vegetable."
Those of us whose hometown is more than an hour away from the university probably don't go home more than once every few weeks.
There is nothing like the feeling of getting away from the incessant demands of higher education for a weekend to remember where you once spent the majority of your time.
As I drive down I-80 E towards my parents' home, my mind is doing no more thinking than is necessary to operate a motor vehicle.
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