Coming home from college isn't what you think it will be. The first time I went home after leaving for school was Thanksgiving break. On the drive to Michigan, I thought I would just fit back into the same kind of routine I had when I lived there full time. I didn't. Everything was completely different.
When I first walked into my house, my mom and sister continued on with their lives in the house, but I was a bit confused. Everything looked the same, but also different too, If that makes any sense. The place I had lived for years no longer felt like home. I, in some ways, felt uncomfortable. Nothing was the same. My family had plans that I didn't know about until I got there. I've been living on my own schedule and doing things when I felt it was necessary to do them, but suddenly I was on their schedules. There was a weird feeling in the atmosphere.
When I went home for Christmas, I had the same feeling. I spent a week at my friend's house, and I felt like an alien the whole time. I felt oddly out of place, even though it wasn't the first time I had stayed there for that long. Her family has always treated me like another daughter, but everything was weird this time. Her family had their own routine, and I found myself struggling to keep up with them.
I've been back at school for a week now and I feel like I never left. I guess, now, school feels more like home than my actual home does. When I was at my mother's house and I would talk about going back to school, I would catch myself saying home and I felt the need to correct myself. But after coming back and falling back into my own routine, I don't feel the need to correct myself anymore. School is my home now and I'm 100 percent okay with that. Home doesn't necessarily mean where you come from. Everyone knows the saying, "home is where the heart is." My heart just happens to be at school, and yours might be too, and that is okay.
When you go to college, more so if you go far away, in my opinion, you become more independent. Your parents aren't right there for you anymore. They continue to live and adjust to life without you at home, and you do the same without them. It's weird going home and seeing how different it is without you. I guess what I'm trying to say is, things may not fall back into place when you go home. Everything could be different, or nothing could be. Just be prepared for it not to be and try your best to create your own routine to mix with your family's.
