For many students, the adjustment to college life is difficult. There are a variety of factors that contribute to this burdensome feeling: realizing that it’s a bad idea to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, learning to separate lights from darks, managing an intense academic workload, and attending weekly “Super Saturdays.” However, one challenge that is often overlooked by University first-years is the idea of leaving home for the first time.

Many first-years refuse to admit their homesickness. Students may feel pressured not to open up about it so that they come off as “cool” to their new friends. This past week, a first-year suffering from homesickness experienced his worst nightmare.

Henry Home ’22 was mortified this past Monday when he mistakenly called his professor “Mom” in front of his entire introductory economics class of approximately 50 students. Although the incident was humiliating for Home, Professor Carrie of the economics department tried to ease the tension surrounding the outburst.

“I felt bad for the poor kid,” Carrie said. “It was clear that he had been showing symptoms of homesickness. Many mornings he would scramble into class with puffy eyes while on the phone with his mother.”

Carrie stated that on the morning of the incident Home appeared particularly flustered.

“After going over a new topic in class, Home raised his hand,” Carrie said. “Before he even got his question out, he mistakenly called me ‘Mom’ and the class burst out laughing.”

One of Home’s classmates, Matt Macro ’22, was able to elaborate on the incident.

“The class went wild as soon as my boy Henry called Professor Carrie ‘Mom,’” Macro said. “He turned bright red and ran for the door. I haven’t seen him since, but I know some people said they saw him packing his bags.”

The Bucknellian spoke with the Office of Admissions to inquire about Home’s whereabouts. We were turned away after the office cited the University’s confidentiality policy. Luckily, we spoke with a friend of Home’s, who was able to check “Find My Friends” and confirm that Home had returned home for the semester. When asked for a quote about his recent actions, Home politely declined to comment.