For many students that live far away from Iola and Allen Community College, this winter break will be the first time they have been back home since the summer. With the end of the semester here, Chase Gooding and Ben Aslett share what it means to them to go back home after spending the semester away at school.

Gooding, a freshman from West Fargo, N.D., has spent most of this first semester away from home but doesn’t really feel homesick. He’s enjoyed his time away from home and said that although there aren’t as many things to do, he makes the best of it here at Allen.

This isn’t the first time Gooding has had to move around. Over the course of his life he and his family have moved from Colorado to Germany, back to Colorado, then to Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, and most recently will be moving back to Texas over winter break. When asked what he looks forward to the most when going back home for break, Gooding said, “I don’t really have a lot of friends back in Texas so I’m looking forward to spending some time with the family.”

Another perspective from what it’s like being away from home comes from our mate Ben Aslett of Melbourne, Australia. Just like Gooding, Aslett said he doesn’t really get homesick but he commented that being away from home can get tough because of missing out on family gatherings such as birthdays, holidays and other events that go on back home. He also said it gets tough being stuck at school all the time, especially when a lot of people go home for the weekends.

When asked what he does in his free time, Aslett said, “I like to try to stay busy and keep up to date with sports and events back home. I usually watch a lot of Australian football and cricket.”

Another challenge with living so far away from home, Aslett said, was staying in touch with his family and friends. He communicates mostly through text messages because of the time difference, which is almost a day, and on the weekends he occasionally uses Skype or Facetime.

When he finally gets home for the first time since the beginning of school, Aslett said he’s looking forward to the food, family and friends, and since it is summertime in Australia, enjoying the nice weather close to the beach.

It seems that living at school far from home has its advantages and disadvantages, but both Gooding and Aslett have seemed to make the best of it and enjoy their time with their Allen family.