First Impressions: Staying in touch with that other family

College is supposed to be your home away from home. You move in, you bring things that are important to you, and you settle into your new place of residence. You learn the habits of people you live with and those that live on your floor, and you learn the tiny intricacies of where you live, just like you would at your house. You may even become more comfortable here at college than you are at home.

But no matter how comfortable you get in college, you still must remain in contact with your "original" family, painful as it may be. Some people talk to them every day, while others just make a token appearance during the holidays to pick up presents and leave. The majority of us fall in between these two, however (myself included). These are the people who have conversations with their parents a few times a month, maybe post on the Facebook wall of their sibling once in a while, and, for those who live close enough, go home and exploit the fact that they still have never done laundry in their lives (lucky jerks).

I talk to my family about once a week - twice if I'm feeling ambitious - and it is quite the experience. Usually, I get a call from my family at the worst possible time and I begrudgingly pick up the phone.

First, I talk to my mom, who must know every single detail of my life, from everything I do in every second of my free time, to how many bowel movements I have. Also, she has apparently forgotten that I'm 18 years old and insists on asking me questions like, "Are you getting your homework done?" and, "Are you remembering to wear warm clothes since it's cold outside?" No, mother, I've been going to class in only boxer shorts the past two months, thank you so much for reminding me. I would have frozen without you.

Furthermore, after this wonderful talk, she concludes the conversation with a loving remark like, "Don't eat too much, you fat piece." It's words like those that remind me how much she cares.

She then passes the phone off to my father. We exchange a few manly grunts and such, then talk for five minutes about fantasy football or work, with the occasional insightful bit of information ("So, that Matt Ryan fellow is pretty good"), before he gets bored and hands the phone off to my brother. Good ol' dad.

My brother, never the most talkative of people, will give me a few syllables in response to any question, regardless of its complexity (unless it involves Guitar Hero III).

Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but trying to have a conversation with my family on the phone is one of the most awkward things ever. After spending much of my existence living under the same roof, trying to explain my life to them is just plain difficult.

Luckily for us, we can make our visits home and reconnect. For example, this past weekend I flew home to Maryland to spend quality time with my family (and of course, it's a complete coincidence that Boston College played the University of Maryland in football. I don't want to talk about the actual game). It was great to be with my family again, nothing like the horrible phone conversations. However, there were some negative consequences to this home visit. My parents, both Maryland alums, did nothing but rag on me for the rest of weekend. It was awful.

Indeed, college is an amazing place. I love the freedom, I love the people, I love the atmosphere, I love the family that is BC. However, some of us forget about our "other" family, or do not appreciate how much our family has helped us, even in providing us with a BC education. While talking to my family can sometimes seem like a chore, I do it anyway, because to me, family is very important. They have definitely played a huge role in guiding me through my life, and I appreciate it very much, even if I don't say it. I may even be the one who calls first next week.

Yeah, right.