While many of my friends growing up were big fans of summer, I always found myself drawn to the beauty of fall. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year for a number of reasons. This year, fall begins on September 22 and ends on December 21. This means that fall encompasses a variety of holidays, the start of the school year and lots of weather changes. Here I have listed nine of the reasons why I love fall so much!

1. The Change In Temperature

While I love the opportunity to wear shorts and a tank top as much as any other person out there, I prefer that switch in temperature that means jeans and a sweatshirt. With fall comes the infamous fall weather. The temperature drops just enough to make it a little chilly and comfortable without the heat or humidity of summer or the frigid winds of winter. The days where the temperature is in the 60s are my favorite days to be outside. I like to enjoy the sunshine with a cool breeze blowing my hair around.

2. Apple Picking & Apple Cider

Every year my grandmother and my uncle used to take my brother and me to the Apple Farm in Fairfield, Maine on their opening day. There would be free apple cider, a hayride with horses that took us to each variety of apples in the orchard, a second hayride with a tractor that took us to the pumpkin patch across the street and of course a variety of apple-based desserts to try! I would so many apples that day at the Apple Farm(and I would regret it all later).

My social media is always buzzing about it being the time of year for pumpkin-flavored coffee, donuts, and so many other items. However, I never really got into that craze. I love fall for the apple cider. Whether it be hot or cold, apple cider finds its way into my diet over the few months that it is available to buy. Whenever I went to the apple farm I would drink so much apple cider and that is probably why I still love it so much today. It brings back great memories of my childhood.

3. Halloween

While I love Halloween, my cat Buttercream does not.

Halloween has been my favorite holiday pretty much my entire life. I loved the idea of getting to dress up for one night and pretend to be someone- or something- else. My costumes over the years were typical (a witch, a vampire, a clown) and not-so-typical (a bat, Pikachu). Even into high school I still loved dressing up and just hanging out with my friends. Once I was in high school my costumes got a little more creative. I was Helena from the My Chemical Romance music video with the same name my sophomore year. It was in college that I fell into not-so-creative costumes for the Halloween dance that was thrown every year on campus (I was a cat twice and a "ninja" once). Although one year I was Sam Winchester from Supernatural just for fun. I loved walking around my town and seeing all the costumes that people have found to be. I saw someone dressed up as a six-sided dice once.

My worst Halloween experience was when I was 11. I was tall for my age, about 5'3 at the time. I went up to a house with my younger brother and actually had someone only give my brother candy and then close the door in my face. I was done trick-or-treating after that. I took off my witches hat and followed my parents around instead of going up to houses.

4. My Birthday

My grandmother made me a cake every year for my birthday.

The best part about Halloween was always knowing that I would wake up the next day and be one year older. I loved being born on November 1st because it meant I could have a Halloween themed birthday party for a while. It also sucked though because a lot of the time people would plan actual Halloween parties at the same time as my birthday party and people would have to choose what they wanted to do. Eventually, I got past wanting Halloween parties and had real birthday parties.

5. Thanksgiving

My second favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. I loved getting together with all of my family and spending time together around the table. The stuffing my grandmother made was always my absolute favorite part of the holiday. I would have eaten just that if everyone else in my family hadn't been as fond of it as I was. I also loved that my uncle would make his chocolate peanut butter fudge. My brother and I would hoard that fudge like there was no tomorrow. It got to the point that for Christmas my uncle would just make a batch specifically for my brother and me.

Now that I'm older I still love Thanksgiving. Family doesn't come around as much so it's usually just my grandmother, my uncle, my dad, my brother and me. Sometimes it sucks because I was so used to having a big Thanksgiving and now it's not anything more than a regular family get together, just with a lot more food. Thanksgiving is also harder now that I'm older. I live with my boyfriend and we will probably have to split up for the holidays this year.

6. The Foliage

One thing that I've loved about living in Maine is the fall foliage. I love watching trees start to change, one leaf at a time and then suddenly they have all changed overnight. The reds, oranges and yellows that decorate the scenery are one of the biggest tourist attractions in my small state.

During my undergraduate college years, I was fortunate enough to live in a small town in Western Maine. This meant that I was surrounded my trees for the four years I lived in Farmington. My ride home to Waterville in the fall meant lots of beautiful foliage to look at as I drove. It was my favorite part of my ride home.

7. The Leaves

My college roommate and I took a crunchy-leaves walk through the woods on campus.

While I love the foliage, I really love when the leaves fall from the trees. I love the crunch they make under my feet and the smell the bring into the fall air. I love picking them up and throwing them at my friends and family. As a child, I was one of those kids who loved jumping in piles of leaves. My uncle had a dog that used to follow me into the piles. She would bury her face deep into the leaves and throw her head up and disperse the leaves all over the yard.

8. The First Snow

Call me crazy but there's something about the first snowfall that makes me incredibly happy. The stark contrast of the white snow on the brown leaves is truly beautiful. The first sign of snowflakes in the sky makes me shiver with anticipation of what will come next. While often the first snowfall doesn't actually bring much snow at all I still really love that it means more will be coming soon.

9. School

A beautiful fall day with my friends from school! Photo credit: My mom

Now I know that the first day of school is still technically summer, but there's just something about school that reminds me that fall is on the way. I've always liked school. Maybe that's why I'm in graduate school without taking any time off in between. Learning is a passion of mine. I don't really know why. I complain about hating school a lot and I definitely did back when I was in grade school as well. My brain just craves new information and that is what fall brings for me. Another chance to learn new things.

School also meant getting to spend more time with my friends. Since graduating high school I have lost touch with a lot of people I was incredibly close with. It really sucks because I don't have the opportunity to just see some of them every day of my life.