It is always good to go home to see friends and family after being separated at school. But the best part of going home is access to a real kitchen. Being able to cook without constantly running into the cabinets or working around your roommates’ dirty dishes is heaven. So let’s just say, when I go home for breaks, I spend a majority of my time in the kitchen.
It’s not easy adjusting to this rediscovered paradise, it takes time. Here are five stages of realizing and accepting this new haven.
1. Shock
When you walk in the door and see your home’s gleaming and (relatively) large kitchen for the first time in months, you are rendered speechless. It’s a bit like culture shock. Like when you step off a plane and are surrounded by different languages, scenery and customs. Except this space is occupied by gleaming counters, cabinet space, a dishwasher, and a fully functioning stove.
2. Confusion
You look around your kitchen opening the pantry, which to your surprise is filled with food and not just Ramen. You then open the refrigerator just for curiosity’s sake and find that it’s full too. You then wonder “how can there be so much food?” Then anxiety and excitement set in because there is so much food and you don’t know what to start eating first.
3. Joy
Pure, unadulterated joy. You are now living in your kitchen, cooking and baking 24/7. You blow up Instagram with pictures of your food creations and selfies of you in the kitchen. Your friends have quit asking if you want to hit the town because they know your answer will be no. Instead, they show up unannounced to partake in the cooking festivities.
4. Adjustment
You cannot imagine how you survived at college with a tiny kitchen. Actually, your memories of the kitchen are hazy and they seem like a dream. It’s like a long-term committed relationship, you don’t see it ending.
5. Sadness
In a blink of an eye, you are driving back to school. You walk into your apartment and glance at your tiny kitchen. Reality hits you like a ton of bricks. Full of hope, you open your pantry and fridge only to be disappointed in finding a package of Ramen, an opened box of cereal and a browning apple on the counter.
You slowly begin to adjust to your tiny kitchen and you realize it’s not terrible. You kind of like your tiny kitchen no mater how much you complain about it. Nonetheless, the countdown to your next trip home has begun.