I always said I wanted to go to college out of state. I wanted to see what opportunities were outside of Connecticut, work in Boston one day, and travel to different places. I’ve lived in the same place for all my life. I went to school with all my friends who I’ve known since I was born, and lived a mere five minutes away from most of my family members. I thought that I was so sick of my hometown and quite frankly, wouldn’t miss it that much when it came time to leave for college.

Move-in day is a crazy day to say the least. It’s a weird feeling when you walk out of your house knowing that you won’t be back for a while. It all seemed a blur, packing up all my stuff, leaving my empty room, saying goodbye to friends, family and my dog, driving away, and moving all your stuff into a new, unknown place that is meant to be your home away from home. I didn’t know what to think, or how to act; it all seemed so surreal that I felt nothing the whole car up to school.

And then it happened. The first night of college, the feeling of homesickness hit me like a bus.

Everyone always says that the first night of college is the worst and at that moment I finally realized what they had all been talking about. I wanted to be back home with my family, sleep in my own bed. At that point I didn’t necessarily miss my hometown, I just missed my physical home and the feeling of comfort and familiarity.

It was exactly one month after I moved into college that I came home for a weekend. It was different walking back into my room, sleeping in my own bed, watching my family continue on with their routines. And that’s when it hit me. I had missed my hometown. I missed Danbury.

I missed the Taste of Danbury, our iconic Danbury Fair Mall, the Starbucks down the road, hearing my dog bark at every car that drives by, Stew Leonard's, driving my car, Danbury High School, Bagelman (to any Fairfield county natives who know the taste of a bacon, egg and cheese on a plain bagel with a hashbrown), Candlewood Lake, Elmer’s Diner, family and friends.

I never truly understood the meaning of home until I went away to college. Danbury was more than just a city and I realized that I hadn’t taken into account everything that made it so special.

Going away to college made me realize how grateful I am to have lived in the same place for so long. I was lucky to grow up with family members (grandparents, cousins, Aunts, and Uncles) only 5 min away, to live down the street from my best friends, to stay in the same school system, and to always know that I would have a place to come home to. Going away to college taught me how to not take things for granted. Going away to college taught me to not overlook the simple things that made me love my hometown.

Do I still miss my hometown? Yes. Do I look forward to going home on long weekends? Yes. Do I wish my college was a little closer to home? Sometimes. Do I wish I chose a different school than Merrimack? Absolutely not.

Merrimack is now my home away from home and I couldn’t have picked a school with a more welcoming community and atmosphere than the one here.

Now in my second month of school, I realize that I am where I belong. I needed to leave home to show myself that I am ready to take on the real world. I needed to know what it was like to live in a different place, and to explore. I feel responsible, confident and happy. Most importantly, I feel as if I made the right choice.

It’s okay to be a homebody, and it’s okay to move away to experience new places. If there’s one piece of advice I could give to any student going away to college it would be to not forget where you came from because it may hold more meaning than you think. And as the saying goes, “distance only makes the heart grow fonder.”