EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a six-part series reporting on how Ohio University students spend their six-week Winter Break.
On top of the stress of finals, papers and other end of the quarter activities, Ohio University freshmen are preparing for a unique challenge - living at home for the first time after going away to college.
According to the OU office of institutional research Web site (http://www.ohiou.edu/instres/), 3,672 freshmen enrolled at OU for Fall Quarter this year. The majority are going back to their hometowns and working or trying to get jobs, like Alex Weber, who is returning to his job at a UPS Store in Cincinnati.
I'm going to try to make back the $500 I spent here last quarter
Weber said.
Weber, along with OU freshmen Scott Lichtenwalter and Brandon Bailey, said working during Winter Break made the break more of a chore than anything else. This was the only thing the three agreed on, with very different opinions about Athens, parents and their hometowns.
My view of my hometown hasn't changed but I would rather still live in Athens Bailey said.
This is partially because his relationship with his parents hasn't really improved since going away to college.
We still fight a lot
but now it's from 200 miles away
he said.
Lictenwalter thought Athens was nice at first, but his opinion of the town has since gotten lower. He said he dislikes Athens enough that he wants to transfer to the University of Akron to be closer to home.
I always loved my hometown
he said. But now
seeing Athens
I love it so much more.
Weber's attitude was not as extreme as Lichtenwalter's or Bailey's. He said he never liked Cincinnati very much, but is learning to appreciate it more after living in Athens. He said this was because this town is in the middle of nowhere
though he does like OU.
Weber also said he gets along better with his parents now than he did when he was living at home. OU junior Elise Glick, who said she has grown to appreciate her parents more since her freshman year, shares this opinion.
I like spending time with them more now because I'm around them less
she said.
Glick is going to Los Angeles to work, drawing caricature portraits at the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park throughout December. She said she would not have considered doing such a thing her freshman year, when she went home to Canton, Ohio to work. She said her last Winter Break at home was difficult and encouraged freshmen to think creatively about what to do with six weeks without classes.
The possibilities definitely opened up
Glick said. I didn't realize how big of a break it was then.
