Finals week is here and our repertoire of crunch time activities has commenced: complain, caffeinate, then finally figure out how to cope. (Supposedly) we all can’t wait to be done with testing, group work and perpetual headaches so we can take the six week sabbatical known as winter break. Right?

Actually, as it turns out, students’ feelings on revisiting the nest are pretty mixed, and many fellow Bearcats would rather be mixed up in the debauchery of college life than relaxing on their parents’ couch while playing with new Christmas/Hanukkah gifts. Surprised? Well, we aren’t. As it turns out, schoolsickness seems to be a more potent disease at BU than homesickness.

Junior finance major Justin Horowitz is one of the converted — that is, one of those who has realized the full extent of the benefits of staying in school.

“I definitely don’t want to go home,” he said, “because I have to work at home … and I can’t drink four nights a week.”

It seems natural to assume that one of the main reasons for not wanting to go home would be the lack of the constant party atmosphere that characterizes college life, but some students are more concerned about loneliness. Especially for the those who live on campus, the constant bustle of dorm life becomes what a mother cat’s heartbeat is to her kitten — some of us won’t be able to sleep in a quiet room ever again.

“I’m happy because I’m going home to see my friends that I’ve kept in touch with over the months, but I’m also sad because I’ve made bonds with people here and I’m having a lot of fun,” said freshman Brandon Liebman. But who was the person he has forged the strongest bond with? His roommate, of course. “Ill sincerely miss spooning with my roommate,” he said with a smirk.

Horowitz also added that as lackluster as Binghamton may seem sometimes, at least broke college students can afford to party here.

“It’s so expensive to go out [at home] and you have your parents constantly annoying you about everything,” he said.

Of course there are some students (many of them freshmen) who are ready to go home and revisit their pre-college lives. Freshman Justin Hyacinth, for example, couldn’t be happier to leave.

“I can’t wait to go home,” he said. “School is so lame and I’m not going to miss any of it.”

And some students are more perturbed by the impending break simply because they are too lazy to deal with the transition from school to home.

“It’s always good to see friends and family, but I hate getting out of the routine of college then having to jump back into it,” said junior English major Eric Miller.

When someone adopts a kitten or a puppy, they may put a ticking clock in their kennel to simulate a heartbeat and remind the animal of the comforts of home. For college students, we offer slightly different advice for adapting to a home atmosphere that has become foreign.

Here are some of the main amenities of college life that students reported missing during breaks from school:

1) Being able to stay up late and have everyone around all the time.

2) Constant partying.

3) Freedom to go out whenever you want to, with the option of watching the sun rise over beautiful State Street.

4) The constant presence of a roommate to talk to, confide in, gossip with, order pizza with at 3 a.m., etc.

Being our usual helpful selves, Release has come up with a list of alternatives that may help comfort and hold you over till we return in January:

1) Throw sleepovers! We are talking clich√É.√© hair braiding, scary movie watching, onesie pajamas with footsies — the works. For maximum effect, pick up pizza or calzones and leave them lying around till you get back later, then microwave and voil√É.√†! It’s just like late night delivery a la Binghamton.

2) Pitch a tent in your backyard (or maybe someone else’s backyard). Since you’re not technically under your parents’ roof, you can make your own rules. Consider renting a space heater.

3) When you do go out, make sure to wear 50 percent less clothing than the severe weather actually demands — it’s sure to bring a taste of State Street right to you.

4) At your sleepover, make sure everyone shares a bed — for maximum and desired effect, make sure the bed couples are same sex, not co-ed, and then feel free to snuggle away. It’ll be just like back in the dorms (apparently). After all, co-ed sleepovers (aka illicit affairs with your floormates) are a hard thing to bring home to your parents’ houses.

If these tips aren’t enough to help you cope with winter break, there’s probably nothing we can do with you — you are officially addicted to college. There’s always the option of winter session classes, if you’re into that kind of thing.