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Students taking classes and living away from family and friends for the summer often yearn for a companion, a snuggler or just a pair of appreciative eyes. There is a solution – or at least a Band-Aid – to help heal the lonely hole in your heart: a pet!
Before deciding get a pet, check with your landlord. Even if your lease prohibits pets, it doesn't hurt to ask if your landlord will make an exception; my landlord’s biggest concern was cats scratching up the furniture so it’s possible yours may allow smaller animals. I decided to get a rabbit but before doing so, I read up on them and did my research to prepare, just like I would for a college exam.
So far, my rabbit has been extremely entertaining – almost as if I own a small dog: He lies out on the couch with me, watches television with me and follows me around the apartment. I even bought him a harness and leash so I can take him outside and am getting an old pet stroller to take him on walks. Pets can become the center of our worlds and my rabbit has definitely become the center of mine.
If loneliness is nipping at you this summer, think about getting a pet. Just make sure you have the money and time to devote to your pet once school starts up full-time again; if you have even slight concerns about your class schedule, work-study or social life will get in the way of properly caring for your pet, save the trip to the pet store or animal shelter for a later date.
In addition to being a Scholarships.com virtual intern, Michigan Tech student Kayla Herrera is a media coordinator for the Michigan Tech Youth Programs, a writer for The Daily News in Iron Mountain, Mich., and a writer for Examiner.com. She love a tantalizing, action-packed video game and can't get enough of horror movies (Stephen King's books always have her in their grip, though she prefers the old over the new). Writing is what she has always done, and that is what she is here to do.