Moving home for the summer is hard in more ways than one, with your parents trying to breathe down your neck again like they did in high school and having to adjust to having a curfew again. That being said, the absolute worst part about moving home is missing your school, and when you go to the College of Charleston, there’s a lot to miss.

1. The City

Who knew it was possible to miss a place as much as you’d miss a person? Charleston, SC was voted not only the best city in the U.S. and Canada but in the entire world this year -- and for good reason. Between the oceanfront parks, Second Sunday on King Street and dozens of stores and award-winning restaurants, you have to actually try to be bored in this city. Where else can you spend an evening hanging out of the windows of an apartment on King Street or run down to the historic city market to grab ice cream with some friends? Not many other colleges offer off-campus housing in beautiful, rainbow-colored, three-story historic houses a ten-minute walk from campus.

2. The Food

Charleston wouldn’t be Charleston without its diverse array of restaurants and eateries scattered around the city. Although our tight college budgets prevent the College’s students from eating at the more high-end restaurants like Hank’s or Hall’s Chophouse---we’ve found our own cheaper campus favorites. Curled up with a book on a rainy day? It’s hard not to crave a warm panini or sandwich from Circe’s Grotto or Persimmon Cafe. On the way to the beach or the park? Even thinking about an acai bowl from Beech is enough to make your mouth water. Everyone is preparing a little stash of money to blow only on food upon their return to the Holy City.

3. The Beach

One of the serious perks of going to the College of Charleston or simply living in Charleston is the proximity to a number of beautiful beaches. When you go to college here, getting a text in the middle of a Tuesday asking if you want to hit the beach between classes isn’t uncommon. On Sullivan’s Island or at Folly Beach, the streets are lined with as many college student’s cars as they are tourist’s cars. Sometimes, the hardest decision of the day is whether you really need to go to your history lecture, or whether you’ll just pile in someone’s car and head out to the beach. Ugh, what a hard life!

4. The Weather

The entirety of the time between March and October is spent wiping the sweat off of every part of your body and taking two showers a day. Charleston is notorious for its hot, humid weather. Even in the winter, although there are some cold days, it’s not uncommon to wake up to sunny, 75-degree weather in January. Despite the sweltering heat, the typically warm weather means we can go to the beach pretty much any time of year. With that tradeoff, I’m happy to sweat through my classes if it means a beach day in the middle of winter.

5. The Friends

As the saying goes, you meet your true best friends in college, and that holds true at the College of Charleston as much as it does anywhere else. With so much of our student population coming from out of state, it’s not unusual to check your Find my Friends app and see that your roommate is in New York and a couple of your friends are in Montana, Boston, Pennsylvania, Florida -- you name it. As cool as it is to meet people from all over the country, it makes for extreme separation anxiety when breaks roll around. However, it also makes for the perfect excuse to beg your parents to help pitch in for plane tickets to visit friends in the coolest places all summer.

When you go to school in the best city in the world, surrounded by great food, friends and beaches all in warm, sunny weather, it’s hard not to spend every second of your summer break wishing you were back at school. For all the College of Charleston students spending their summer away from the city, the countdown to August has been on since the day they left. See you soon, Chuck!