Family Weekend begins today, but I will not being seeing my family this weekend. Yes, I should be sad about this fact and wish they were coming to visit me, but the truth is I am completely OK with the whole thing.

Last weekend, I went home for the first time since moving back down to Charleston nearly seven weeks ago. I got to relax and not think about school for an entire 48 hours.

This weekend will be the complete opposite. I will be writing stories about people spending time with their families and hanging out in the residence halls watching people come and go with their families.

Will it feel weird? Yes. Honestly, I will probably feel a little left out this weekend, but I know it is for the greater good. When I work, I am focused and it would be nearly impossible to enjoy my family’s company and work at the same time.

Trust me, I’ve done it before, and even when I started to think about my deadlines this past weekend, my mom would say I wasn’t enjoying my weekend and that my mind was still in work mode. It was.

Besides the chaos of my workload, I know campus is going to be crazy busy this weekend. There’s going to be a lot of people around this weekend and crowds drive me nuts. I’d rather just have a nice quiet weekend with my family when it isn’t as hectic.

My parents have agreed with me on this fact and are coming down a different weekend instead. Yes, we will go to a football game and visit restaurants in town. But we won’t deal with the crowds.

Last year, my parents came down on Family Weekend. It was fun, but they all admitted it was too crowded. My parents had to stay in a hotel about 45 minutes away. The concert and game were great, but the restaurants were so crowded we ended up ordering pizza.

We made it work and it was nice, but I think I’d just chalk it up to one of those “been there, done that” kind of things. This weekend when I start to feel down, I will try to look forward to my own Family Weekend.

This one will be without traffic, lines at restaurants and chaos. Family Weekend is a great event for some, but it simply isn’t my cup of tea.

So if you are looking for me this weekend, I’ll be at work or in the library with my homework and projects for midterm. Like it or not, those are just around the corner, but that’s another story.

Amy Wywialowski is a junior history major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].