Everyone talks about the excitement of your freshman year of college, but I rarely see anyone describe the feeling of your second. When you've already checked off a long list of "firsts" and all that glares back is to "return".

It's definitely not the same feeling of nauseating anxiety that filled my guts the first time around, but when I think about moving back into the dorms, I'm overwhelmed with a new list of "what ifs". When you already have your bearings, you suddenly find yourself caught up in a whirlwind of possibilities.

So, as the date approaches, I find myself just as excited about college. This time, it's just different. Instead of making list after list of what I need to take, I spend more time organizing my class schedule to ensure I can maximize my between-class nap times. My energy is no longer devoted into finding ways to make friends, but instead adding new brunch spot ideas to my sorority sister's Pinterest board and then texting the group message in all caps about how WE HAVE TO GO THERE. Instead of dreading leaving my lifelong friendships behind, I realize the ones that have lasted this long have done so for a reason. We made it through the first year apart and we'll do it again.

I'm so dizzyingly excited to go back to school. That's not something that I think I've been able to say since first grade. Truly, I'm excited to get back to the academia. I miss my schedule and grabbing a strawberry refresher from Starbucks before heading to my lecture. I miss learning and being challenged from different perspectives. You see, after all the years of a public school education, I found that I stopped being challenged long ago was just being taught meaningless information to meet quotas. But in college, I actually want to learn because it's not necessarily concrete facts being jammed down my throat, but it's analyzation. I can't wait to return to a world of structure that teaches me how to dismantle that itself.

I can't wait for late nights spent at the cafe, even if I'm not always a fan of the food. Part of me is even excited about the long hikes up staircases to class. Also, the moment I get back to campuses I can't wait to grab pizza from the local favorite and find my friends in their dorm rooms, unpacking with just as much excitement as me.

Maybe my school is no longer trying to woo me with welcome week activities, but it doesn't need to try anymore. I've fallen so hopelessly in love with just the way things are that I'm feeling every bit as excited as I was my first time pulling up to campus. The Target ads may not be targeted to me anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't spend just as long picking out my planner for this school year.

Going back may be even better than the first time I did this. A few weeks ago, I received a letter from Common App telling me that the transfer application that I had started during my first semester was about to expire. I had actually forgotten I had even started it. As I deleted the email, I felt so immensely proud of myself for sticking it out and even prouder that I had made it to the next year, which I know will be every bit as amazing, if not better.