When my family left me on move-in day last year, I remember feeling so strange. Almost like a "what now?" type of feeling.

I was always the type to say I wanted to get out of my home town, that I would leave and go far away and never come back, but that homesick feeling hit me like a train the first few days of freshmen year.

That "what now?" feeling turned in to a "wow I really miss my home town" pit in my stomach type feeling.

I couldn't figure out why I could feel this way about a place I was dying to leave, now don't get me wrong I love my college town but it wasn't feeling like home.

I missed the local coffee shop, my favorite local restaurant, the Starbucks where they knew my name and order, and the local boutique where they always had stuff picked out just for me.

These were all things my hometown had that Athens couldn't replace.

I started to miss my bed, my closet, my room, my dogs, my home.

The twin size bunk bed in a college dorm just was not doing it for me.

And I truly did not know what to do because I never once thought I would be the college student sitting in my dorm room feeling homesick, like I said I thought I was so ready to leave that place.

I think that was the problem, because I was so ready to leave I did not realize how much I would miss all the things I actually liked about my town and things I wouldn't have here.

Ultimately I realized that I had to create a balance and keep myself involved and immersed in college. I had to find a new local coffee shop, a new local restaurant, a new Starbucks where they knew my name and order, and a new place to shop. I had to recreate the community I loved so dearly (even though I didn't realize I did).

I quickly replaced my homesick feeling with a feeling of excitement for a new place, with new adventures. I think that is a great way to remove that feeling, turn your longing into excitement for discovering new places.

Find a new favorite restaurant, a new favorite store, a new favorite hiking trail- whatever it is you are missing try to recreate it in your new town.

When you do that, you start to create a new home, after all it is where you'll be for the next fourish years- might as well make yourself comfortable there.