As we all adjust to being back home and sleeping in our old beds and dealing with chores once again, we realize that there are quite a few things we miss about college life:
1. "Free" food
Okay, obviously nothing in college is actually free. Somewhere along the line, you're paying for all those dining dollars and dining hall visits. However, for the time being it's free, unlike all of the restaurants you'll be dying to visit over the summer
2. A free gym membership
Almost all universities have a campus gym. This means easy access to a gym without any fees. (Again, it's not really free in the long run, but we're trying to be optimistic here.) So, in the summer when everyone's trying to get that "beach body", it really hits just how much you miss your gym at school.
3. Friends
It was really convenient having all of your friends living on the same campus, some even in the same building. Now, hanging out is much more difficult. For the first time, you really need to coordinate and pick whose house is the easiest for everyone to get to.
4. The community
In college, you're constantly surrounded by other students. Though you may not know all of them personally, they are still familiar faces. During the summer, you go back to the same town that is full of unfamiliar faces, of all different ages. There are some things that are only publicly acceptable on a college campus where the only people who will judge you have probably done the same thing at some time.
5. The town
Where I go to school, the town is everyone's favorite place. It's full of restaurants, coffee shops, little boutiques, and other familiar places that my hometown just doesn't have. Over the summer, you'll find yourself, at least once or twice, wishing you could eat at your favorite restaurant back at school.
6. The schedule
Weirdly enough, one of the down sides to being home for summer is having nothing to do. Sure, the first few days of sleeping in were nice, but at some point all of us realize that we need to be busy. We need to be working, making money, and being productive. Going from being busy every waking moment to having absolutely nothing to do is quite the adjustment.
7. The school events
At school, there's always something going on. So, if you're bored, you always have something to do. At home, there's no one to plan events for you... you do that yourself. You never realized how boring home life could be until you went away to school.
8. The freedom
In college, you can go out with friends at two in the morning and no one will even bat an eye. At home, if you try to tell your mother you're just going for a drive at 2:31 in the morning, she'll think you're crazy for even thinking you would be allowed to do so. You've forgotten that being home means having to ask permission to do anything and everything.
9. The school, itself
Let's face it... college has become your home and being away from it from too long causes some major withdrawals.
