Parent Weekend

Ever since conveniently falling down the stairs and hurting my foot, I have been extremely homesick. So, when Parent Weekend came around I was ecstatic! My mom graciously came to visit me alone, since my dad had to stay home and take care of my little brother. She arrived on the Thursday before Parent Weekend. However, I had to study for my Biology midterm so I wasn’t able to see her until Friday.

On Friday, we went to the convocation, On Hip Hop, Race, and Politics: The Way We Talk About Things, and enjoyed listening to Jay Smooth and his analogies about racism. My mom’s favorite analogy was when he compared people saying they watched Get Out, and therefore couldn’t be racist anymore, to getting a racist tooth extracted. Jay declared that racism couldn’t just be extracted, instead he suggested we approach racism like we would dental hygiene. We are always going to have plaque (racist thoughts) covering our teeth and we have to continuously work to brush them away.

After convocation, my mom came with me to my Arabic class and A&I class, Epic Films in World Culture. I enjoyed having her in my Arabic class because she was just as confused as me about what was going on!

When my classes were over, I took my mom to my dorm and showed her around my floor. After seeing my closet, she immediately commented on my two sweaters that I had accidentally shrunk in the dryer. She offered to teach me how to hand wash my shrunken sweaters to stretch them back out. Of course, I accepted and hugged her profusely.

Once my mistake was reversed and my sweaters returned to their normal shape, my mom, roommate and I drove to a Thai restaurant in Apple Valley to celebrate the end of the week. As always, I ordered Pad See Ew and spring rolls and left with a lot of leftovers. With full stomachs, we returned to campus and dropped my roommate off at our dorm.

My mom and I stayed at a family friend’s house, and I loved being able to hang out with her and sleep in a new environment. On Saturday, we went to an eagle sanctuary and were able to get up close and personal with the majestic beasts.After leaving the eagle sanctuary, we went to a toy store and I got to try on some potential Halloween costumes:

After an amazing weekend with my mom, we said our tearful goodbyes and she got on a flight back to Portland. Although homesickness sucks and is inevitable, I believe that being away from home has made me appreciate the time I have with my family more and I can’t wait to see them again after the end of the term.

Kamala is a first year student from the land of Aminé (Portland, OR). She enjoys going to concerts with her friends and singing along to every song on the radio. Kamala is also a Sagittarius with a Capricorn moon, even though she still doesn’t know what that means. She is passionate about social justice, politics and stress knitting. You can always find her with a glass of milk at the LDC (Language and Dining Center) or impulse cleaning her room past 11 pm. Meet the other bloggers!