With summer coming to a close and the start of a new year just days away, it's easy to get carried away thinking about all the things we love and miss about college. From the Dominos dinner dates at 2am with your roommate to the days spent goofing around with your best friends who you've barely seen over the summer, even the endless amount of homework that you know is waiting for you won't shake the excitement. However, despite the glowing appeal of college life, there are a few things to miss about being home. Home cooked meals and sleeping on a bed that's more than a glorified cardboard box are definitely perks, but the thing that makes a hometown homey is the friends who have stuck by you in the years before college. They're the ones who, in addition to keeping you sane over the summer, have stuck by you from the time you wore braces and thought that your velour Juicy Couture jacket and Sugarlips tank top was the hottest thing in fashion. And theres a few things you need to thank them for.
1) Loving you despite your awkward phase
We all had one. Whether you were lucky and got over yours before middle school ended, or were very unlucky (like me) and had one that lasted well into high school, they've seen you at your absolute worst. Worse than the Sunday mornings at college when your friends need to break into your room and pump you with cheerios and gatorade to stay alive. This was a time when, looking back, you are surprised you had any friends at all. And yet they stuck by you and, for some reason that you still can't quite fathom, are still there. Yes, they have photographic evidence of you at your darkest hour, but you have the same for them, so it's basically a match made in heaven.
2) Providing a home away from home
As much as you love spending quality time bonding with the family, after being away from home for so long you realize that being once again forced to answer to mom and dad's rules gets old pretty fast. In the event that you need an escape from being told to clean your room, chauffeur your siblings to various events and apply for yet another job that you know you won't get, crashing in a friends basement or meeting up at a pool is always an option. They provide a great excuse to get out and go on an adventure or two instead of sitting on lock down at home, up to your ears in tasks that you would cringe at the idea of doing in college.
3) Being a workout buddy
For those of us who participate in collegiate athletics, we know that staying in shape over the summer is the ultimate struggle. With no coach or team to work out with, motivation can hit an all time low. However, your former teammates from home are often times in the same boat. They reassume their former roles as motivators, and give you the permission you crave to go ahead and skip that last repeat.
4) Listening to your endless college stories
Its a given that everyone is going to have their fair share of stories after a year at college, and being away from school makes you want to reminisce over the good times there. You need someone to gush over that story about the time during the first of many huge blizzards when you broke out of your locked down dorm to go sledding at midnight on stolen cafeteria trays, or about the incredibly sketchy motel you were forced to stay in on your team's trip. They allow you to vent without complaint about how much you miss college, and you are only more than happy to do the same for them.
5) Sticking by your side
It's no secret that people change in college. Everyone is studying something different at different schools with different people. We have different experiences and develop different interests. Despite the differences, you all have one thing in common: your history. However unwelcome breaks from your beloved college are, they offer the opportunity to catch up with some of your favorite people. Naturally, some friendships eventually fizzle out, but in the case of many close high school friendships, distance only makes the heart grow fonder.
