I get it. When we go off to college everybody is excited to give us advice and we often hear that you'll never want to leave. They all tell you that when summer comes around you won't want to come home. Well, yes. For some that is true, but not for me, at least not yet.

To the girl's missing home 8 months into school...you're not alone. When I was picking my school I was choosing between three, a school in North Carolina, Mississippi, and one in Louisiana. Very different, I know, but I loved each school for very different reasons. While I was making my decision, I was not thinking about how far I would be from home, but rather how wonderful my experience would be.

Girls, going out of state can be the best decision we could ever make. Leaving our home state/city means we can make new friends, discover a new town, grow up without mom and dad right around the corner, and even overcome the feeling of loneliness. Yeah, I don't understand, it all seems so great, and everything a new 18 year old could dream of. I thought my freshman year would be different too.

Before coming to college, I planned out all the organizations I wanted to join, the church I wanted to attend, my major, and the types of friends I would make. What they don't tell you on the "how to college" manual is that sometimes none of your plans are actually fulfilled. To me, this was scary and quite frankly upsetting.

I am now 8 months into my freshman year and I didn't join one of the organizations I intended to (I have joined some, though). Because I failed myself on this, it simply became a domino effect. I have tried a few churches, and just recently decided to stick with one. (Being in a town full of churches it was slightly overwhelming.) Additionally, I have already changed my major. My dream ever since I was born was to work with cars, specifically NASCAR. If you know me, you know that. It was hard calling my mom and telling her that I was switching majors. I wasn't scared to upset her, but more scared because I felt as if I failed myself and let myself down. Though I didn't switch out of the College of Engineering and Science, the thought of switching was still hard to bare. Finally, friends.

I have lost most of my high school friends. I only had a few, but we don't really keep in touch anymore. They've changed, I've changed..everything has changed, just like we promised nothing ever would. This is the hardest part of college that nobody ever warns you about. Being such a home body and an invested friend, I couldn't understand why my "home" friends and I didn't talk anymore.

Coming to college, you're sort of forced to make friendships, in a good way. The friends I have made here are drastically different than the one's I had at home. I move from a city of 2 million to a town of 22 thousand and my friends are different? Funny how that works..

Don't get me wrong, I love my friends here and am so so so grateful for them and all we have experienced thus far. I tend to ask myself, "have I changed? Is that why my friendships have changed?" Seems that would be the case, but I haven't changed as much as people think. Usually kids change when they move away, but I'm still that home body that loves being at home with her family. I've never been somebody to go out on friday nights, and I'm still not. I miss home the most when my friends go out on weekends and I have to deny the invitation because that is just not me. No, I'm not scared of change, but I do know what I don't enjoy.

I'm sorry this is long, but there is so many things people don't tell kids before they move away for college. At times I consider the advice I would give myself a year ago. The list is never-ending. I enjoy college, I do, but at times I love home more.

Though my school has become a new home, I often miss my home in Texas. So, to the girls struggling with missing home and her whole world being flipped in such a short time, I know what you're feeling. It's not fear, it's not sadness, it's more of a longing to keep the past alive. A longing to bring back your old friends, wishing you could tell them everything because you knew them for so long and trusted them the most, a longing to show mom what you learned in class today, a longing to see your siblings and hug them, a longing to have your church home comfort you.

Y'all, I know it's hard, but like the advice everybody gives you, "you're not alone." Just know, the only advice you can trust is the lessons you learn and wish you could teach your past self because you will feel alone.