Yesterday I came home from college and settled back into living at home. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with my parents and back home where I am comfortable being myself; but, I quickly remembered that the rest of the world doesn’t operate at the same frequency as college students.

8:30pm to a college student means that you still have five or so more hours to study, and get in a Netflix episode afterwards. You still have plenty of time to get food or go visit friends. Outside of a college campus, 8:30pm means that it is nearing time to wind down for the day. On the flip side, 8:30am on a college campus may be dead quiet while 8:30am outside the campus walls is alive with the hustle and bustle of people commuting to work or going about their daily schedule. The average college student may still sleep seven hours if they are lucky, those seven just will begin in the morning of the following day and most likely is totaled with naps in mind.

Apart from the stereotypical aspect of college students being on a completely different sleep schedule, social aspects are also very different when you come home from college. At school, all your friends will always be no more than a fifteen-minute walk away. You can always go and hangout in their room anytime of the day.

At home, there is a completely different atmosphere for socialization. Instead of friends being down the hall, you are now surrounded by family which can mean for a very different atmosphere.

All in all, the daily life of an average college student is very different from the daily life of a normal functioning adult in the real world and sometimes you forget that until you leave campus for the first time in a while.

I have been operating on a college student schedule, which most people don’t find sustainable or even passable; but I didn’t even realize it till I was looking for food and starting to make plans for the evening while my parents and neighbors were going to bed.