Home From College – Maintaining Personal Space

My mom refers to me and my friends as the “Boomerang Generation” – send us off to college, supposedly preparing for the real world and life on our own, but we invariably end up right back at home where we started.

Four years may have passed, and a lot has certainly changed… more educated, fresh perspectives, new social habits and different lifestyles.  But in this tough economy, and living in an expensive city like New York, it’s hard not to justify the benefits of starting that “Real World” off on familiar grounds with Mom and Dad.

Of course, one of the biggest challenges in moving back home for me was dealing with personal space.  In a dorm or my off-campus apartment for senior year, I reported to no one (except a few roommates, I suppose) when it came to messy rooms, blasting music or dirty dishes that could sit for weeks on end.  This all changes once you’re back under the roof of that parental unit, I realized.  Thankfully there is that job to take me out of the house during the day, but once I return home the criticism towards my lifestyle and control over bad habits quickly starts to mount.  I found more and more that the easiest thing was to retreat to my bedroom – my own man cave – where I could play my iTunes, call college friends, or just close the door and unwind from my day without a nagging mother under foot.  For better or worse, my bedroom was still my own personal space.  My parents respected that, and for my own sanity at the age of twenty-two, it had to be that way.

It didn’t take long, then, before I decided that I needed to re-model my room to make it feel like mine.  The “planes and helicopters” theme from my childhood was too infantile, and I knew completely overhauling the space would help reassure me that I am, indeed, in a new and exciting phase of my life.  When it came to the décor, though, I was truly stumped.  I couldn’t afford expensive art.  Plain white walls looked too boring.  And my posters from school looked too worn to re-use.  The last thing I would do was turning this project over to my mom – she’d love it, but this is an important part of stating my independence and mom would choose far too many floral patterns.

With Homecoming approaching, all I could think about was my nostalgia for college.  That’s when it hit me… I have more school spirit than anyone, so the most fitting thing would be to decorate it with themes from my alma mater.  After a bit of research I found Wall2WallStickers.com, a site that has affordable adhesive designs directly geared towards my Duke Blue Devils.  It was the perfect way to show off my school pride, remind my parents that I am, indeed, a college graduate (and should be treated like one) while also helping deal with my homesickness for campus by bringing images of school right to my bedroom.

It didn’t take long for my new room to get recognized and admired by high school friends who found themselves in similar situations, missing college and knowing that their rooms at home needed a fresh look.  Perhaps it was that, or maybe it was the need to counter with their own rival schools – but I quickly saw applications for the Boston College Eagles, Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and others adorn the walls of their rooms.  I’d like to think I’m the one who started the surge, but it’s now a matter of pride for all of us to show off our alma mater and rub it in when our athletic teams are on top of the standings.

The transition into the real world is by no means easy, especially as a part of that “boomerang generation”.  But reclaiming my room, and paying tribute to my college team in the process, has been a big part of surviving my new life at home.

*  To find your alma mater or favorite college team, visit www.wall2wallstickers.com. *

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.