Since I started my freshman year of college this fall, I've only been home a few times. I only live an hour away from school but I wanted to make sure I had the full transition into college life by only going home for scheduled breaks. Since I've been home this week for Thanksgiving, I've had a chance to reflect on the differences between living at home and living in a typical freshman dorm. Here are some major things about living at home that I've come to appreciate the longer I'm living at school.

1. Private Bathrooms

The bathrooms in my dorm are great and I've never had any major problems with long lines or anything but there's something really nice about coming home and being able to use the bathroom in a room that isn't a stall. I've come to really hate the fact that the bathroom where I live now is a public bathroom. At home, I don't have to awkwardly brush my teeth next to another person. I don't have to worry about if my favorite shower stall is being used. And most importantly, I don't have to wear flip flops in the shower because home showers have this great invention called bath mats. It also helps that only four people use the bathroom at home rather than roughly half of my 46 person hall.

2. Eating Breakfast in Your Pajamas

One of the biggest struggles for me in college, especially on weekends, is having to get dressed to go get food. I mean technically, you can wear pajamas to the dining hall, but it's still a public place, I should at least wear clothes that I didn't sleep in. I could make my own food but I can't cook and why would I spend money on food when I'm required to have a meal plan? One of the best parts about being home on break is eating breakfast in the living room in front of the TV in my pajamas. And hey, if nothing's going on, I might not even get dressed at all that day. Amazing. There's really something special about going into the kitchen looking absolutely disgusting and you don't really care because it's your own house and you just want some freaking toast. Eating at school reminds me a little bit of hotel breakfast. It's great because it's a huge buffet and you get to eat food you wouldn't normally have at home, but you have to get dressed and be in public.

3. Pets

I have a cat. Everyone knows I love my cat to pieces. In addition to missing my family, one of my main concerns about going to college was having to live without my cat for long periods of time. My cat has lived with us since I was 5 years old. I don't know what it's like to live without that little demon. Sometimes at school, I wake up thinking my cat should be sitting at the end of my bed but then I remember that I live in a dorm. I've even started watching excessive amounts of cat videos on YouTube because I haven't been in the presence of a cat in so long. The thing about coming home from school, though, is my cat ignores me for the first few days of my break. He seems to be mad at me for leaving for so long. On the last night I'm home, then he finally starts to hang out with me and gets really clingy. This makes me miss him even more because I have to go back to school for another few weeks. Hopefully, when I'm home for a solid month at winter break, he'll warm up to me a little quicker.

4. Sleeping in Your Own Room

For a lot of college students, coming home means getting away from your roommate. Fortunately for me, my roommate and I are great friends, and that's not the cause of my excitement for going home. What I love about going home, though, is sleeping in my own bed in the room I grew up in. I've lived in the same house for my entire life so my bedroom is one of the places where I'm most comfortable. My bed is significantly more comfortable than my dorm bed. You could buy the best mattress pad in the world and your dorm bed will still be somewhat uncomfortable. I also have so much more space at home. My room at home is definitely bigger than my dorm and I don't share it with anyone, so I get more than double the space at home. It's also comforting to sleep in a room that doesn't look like a prison, just saying.

So those are my favorite parts about being home during break. My first Thanksgiving as a college student, I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but I'm most thankful for my house.