As a kid summer was the best time of the year, and school was the absolute last thing on your mind from the end of May to mid-August when you were forced to think about going back. You spend the summer at the pool and playing outside from the sun up to sun down surrounded by friends. You are completely carefree.
When you are in college things change. Summer is not as carefree as it once was, most of the time you spend your summers taking classes and trying to make some money to take back to school. Your summer break from school doesn't always feel like much of a break. I feel strange saying that I am ready to go back to school. It isn't about leaving the house, getting my parents out of my hair and going back to school to party.
The years spent in college are strange because you start to question where you really belong, you have your home where your family lives but school is home as well. You move home for the summer but you know in just a few months you will be packing up again and move back to school. Everything feels very temporary. I think everyone feels this from time to time during the college. While you can have some of these feelings when you come home to your parents and things around your house and your room is practically empty, it still feels like home. That is where your loved ones are and it is very familiar, but school starts to feel like home as well.
Your dorm room is the first place you have that is yours, you form bonds with people, you have your own routines and you don't have your parents to tell you what to do. I miss the little life I made for myself in Maryville, Missouri. I think what I miss most of all is the people. When you are a kid, all of your friends you make at the school live close but when you move on to college not everyone you meet lives right down the street. They might not even live in the same state as you. It can get hard over the summer to make arrangements to see friends from school.
The people you meet and the friends you make are such a big part of your life in college and in my opinion, make the experience you have what it is. So when I say I miss school this does not mean I am having a miserable time at home or my parents are making me crazy. I miss having my little space that I can decorate myself, doing things for myself and my friends.
The feeling of independence you get when you are away from your parents can be very scary but it is a time to discover the world and learn about yourself. Not only do I miss the town of Maryville but I miss everything that comes with it, but in the meantime, it's great to be home.
