As much as we all love our colleges, I think all students can agree that by the time breaks come around, we are burnt out from a week of midterms and stress of the semester. When you live far away from home, the long period of time between Christmas break and spring break starts to become difficult as the homesickness creeps in. While living on campus is an exciting experience, here are five things all college students appreciate when they're home for the week.

1. Reuniting with your parents

The feeling of your loving parents welcoming you home with a warm dinner waiting on the table, do the laundry and simply take care of all your needs for the week is a huge relief from the hustle of life on campus when we have to fend for ourselves.

2. Homemade food

A universal statement that is agreed upon among students is that dining hall food is hit or miss. Some dining halls have great, healthy food and then most of the time, the others make your stomach upset because nobody is really sure how long the food has been sitting out there. When I came home from college for the first time, I almost cried when my mom made a plate of homemade fries for me Nothing beats homemade food!

3. The privacy of your bedroom

Dorm life can get a little crazy, especially on busy weekends when everyone is getting ready to go out for a night of partying, the RA is constantly doing rounds to make sure nobody is dying on the bathroom floor after a wild night and you just want to get some sleep without anyone bothering you.

Coming home to a warm bed and a clean room without overhearing everyone's conversations through thin walls is the perfect time to catch up on all the sleep you've lost over late nights of studying. And unless you are one of the lucky freshmen to live in newly renovated halls, chances are that your room is a little bigger than storage closet that comes with gross bathrooms.

4. No homework for the week

There is no greater joy than finishing up a stressful week of midterms and putting aside all the stacks of textbooks with large cups of coffee to take a break from studying and focus on some personal care; i.e. bubble baths, face masks, and Netflix marathons to catch up on all your favorite TV shows.

5. Reuniting with old friends

College has made me appreciate the love and support of my childhood friends back home so much more for cheering me on when I'm 8 hours away from them. It makes my heart happy to see their smiling faces and hug them in person after countless group Skype calls on the weekends in our dorms.

College has made me thankful for home. Now that I've been thrown into a new environment with new people, living on campus has taught me how to be independent and take care of myself when mom and dad aren't around to nag me about all those responsibilities 24/7. Going home for break lifts the weight of the hectic atmosphere on campus and gives students a chance to come back refreshed and ready to finish the semester strong. It's an important balance to maintain in our age!