No Place Like Hillsdale: Staying Connected with Home

Written by Kate Cavanaugh

You’re a brand new freshman, and it’s your very first day of classes at Hillsdale College. You’ve met thirty other freshmen since you arrived, and your roommate is already your best friend. Your new bedtime has unfortunately moved to 1 a.m. and you already have two reading assignments. Home feels far away right now, and after three weeks of classes, you’ve only called your family once. So, how do you stay connected with home?

Keeping in touch with home was not easy for me. Late-night conversations, friendly cafeteria discussions, and Western Heritage homework filled my time. My home in Seattle was 2,253 miles away, so quick weekend visits were not an option, but telling stories was.  

  1. Choose a day and a place to call your family

For me, it was Sunday evenings in the Children’s Garden. I’d climb up the stairs to “the fort” in the Children’s Garden and FaceTime my parents. I’d tell them how my friends had thrown a surprise birthday party for me. I also shared how a friend had camped outside with me even though it was early October and cold, so we’d woken up at 6 a.m. to scurry back to our cozy dorm. You won’t remember these stories if you don’t tell them. So, find a time that works for you and your family. “We decided, every weekend, to set up an evening to call,” said Eliana Kernodle, ’22. “I texted my parents ‘good night’ every night.”

However, when you have a roommate, it can be hard to find privacy. Look around campus. Use the study room in your dorm, call from the lobby, or let your roommate know that you’ll need the room at a given time. For the pacers out there, take a walk. Hike the Arboretum, explore the Children’s Garden, or wander the neighborhood while catching up with family.

  1. Remember your inner circle

College is busy, and you won’t remain close with everyone you knew in high school, but don’t forget about your old friends. During the first semester of Freshman year, I called two of my friends once or twice. These occasional catch-ups helped us stay involved in each other’s lives and made the return home an easier transition. 

  1. Embrace the United States Postal Service 

Letters show you’re thinking of someone, even if you don’t have the time to call them. Send photos, pressed flowers, or dried autumn leaves. In classic Hillsdale style, I once sent my cousin the bright red Ronald Reagan sticker I got at The Source, the Hillsdale club fair. I loved to collect golden colored leaves and press them in my school books. I’d put them in an envelope along with a letter, and it felt like I shared a piece of my life at Hillsdale. Then, I’d buy stamps at the Bookstore and drop the letters in the mailbox near Moss Hall. Another letter-writing opportunity is Day of Thanks, an event held near Thanksgiving by Student Activities Board (SAB). Students write letters of gratitude to family, professors, and scholarship donors. SAB provides cards, candy, and envelopes, and mails your letters of gratitude for you. I heard a story of a student who would stock up all his letters and send them all on Day of Thanks. He’d feign confusion and say, “they must have gotten stuck in the mail!” when his parents received multiple letters on the same day. 

  1. A picture is worth 1,000 words 

Keep your parents updated with photos of your room, campus, and new friends. Besides keeping them prepared for Parents Weekend, this will help them feel involved in your life, even though you may be miles away. From cafeteria selfies to Garden Party group photos, they’ll want to see what your day-to-day life at Hillsdale is like. 

  1. Record your memories in a journal 

Your first semester in college can be a huge blur. But when your aunt asks you at Thanksgiving, “how is your semester going?” you want to be able to say more than just “good.” Journaling is a more indirect way to keep in touch with home. The first week of freshman year, a friend and I decided to write 100 words a day in our journals. Even though we often lost sleep staying up to write, it was worth the hastily scribbled memories we have to look back on now. Besides being entertaining to look back on, journaling helps solidify memories that would otherwise just be vague and blurry. Writing down the details will help you process your busy, exciting new semester. It will also make the newness of it all less overwhelming. And, when your relatives ask you how your semester is going, you’ll be able to fill them in more easily.

  1. Remember to have alone time.

Part of keeping in touch with family is keeping in touch with yourself. Hillsdale is full of so many interesting people, and meeting other students is a key part of freshman year. But, remember to take some time for yourself. Pray, journal, reflect, or just rest. You’re going to be different when you go back home, and home will feel different, too. So, keep in touch with your family, old friends, and yourself. 

Freshman year at Hillsdale is unique. My freshman year, we got “sky-coned” seven times. Sky-coning, a now-banned activity, involved students dropping ice cream from the ever-tempting overhang onto the cafeteria tables. It was not until my second semester that my friends and I learned to avoid “the cone-zone.” Another time, two friends had a three-hour debate about musical theory that took them from the piano in Galloway Residence to the piano in the cafeteria Saga at dinnertime. To prove his point, one friend banged out the 3rd movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the cafeteria piano. Stories like these are unique to Hillsdale, so you’ll want to remember them and share them with your family and friends. So, make sure you have a journal and some stationary for your freshman year.

Kate Cavanaugh, ’23, is an English major who flirts with graphic design in her spare time. Besides writing for the blog, she can be found mastering the creation of faux london fogs at Saga. She can also be glimpsed power-walking to her one o’clock, as the making of faux london fogs can be time consuming.

Published in September 2022