If you moved away for college, or even if you remained close to home, you've probably had moments where you realized just how many things you took for granted while living at home. As much as I enjoy my time here at school, I sometimes miss the perks of living under my parents' roof in my suburban household.

1. Driving

If you come from the suburbs or elsewhere with little to no public transportation (basically most places that aren’t New York City), the majority of your junior and senior years of high school were probably spent in a car. The day you got your license was basically one of the best days of your life because it meant no more taking the bus to school or only being able to stay out as late as your parents were willing to pick you up. Driving meant freedom and the absolute best sing-alongs in the car with your friends. Your car basically became your second home, and cleaning it out before you left for college was like going through a memory box. Not to mention driving itself is, like, really fun.

2. Having the same schedule as your friends

Get up at 7:00 am, get to school at 8:00 am, leave at 3:00 pm, repeat. Each day of high school consisted of the same monotonous schedule, and by senior year barely anyone could sit through a full day of school anymore. We all could tell we had outgrown those seven-hour days. But there’s definitely something to be said for the consistency - you were all busy at the same times, but you were also all free at the same times. A college schedule allows for more freedom, but with the wide variety of class times, you and a friend could easily go a whole week without seeing each other just from lack of overlapping free time between classes.

3. Staying home sick...

...especially when you had work due the next day. Yes, maybe it was hard to convince your parents to let you stay home on the days when you were slightly under the weather / had two tests the next day and had yet to study for either, but if you really needed a day off, all it took was a quick note from your parents and you were excused. In college, a due date is a due date regardless of whether you have a ten-page thesis you don’t particularly want to write, or if you’re actually on your deathbed. And these things are basically inevitable at some point in your four-year college career. Without a (very official) doctor’s note, you’re not excused from class and neither is your late work. It’s hard to remember it was ever so easy to lie in bed at home avoiding all responsibilities.

4. Snow days

Similar to sick days, but better because you weren’t actually sick / didn’t have to pretend to be. As soon as you got the call at 6:00 am, you would text all your friends in celebration before indulging in at least three more hours of glorious sleep. When you woke up, everything outside was white and beautiful. Snow was something that you could appreciate from the comfort of your warm home - not something you had to trudge through, in freezing temperatures, to get to your 8:00 am.

5. DOGS

Of course, you’ll miss seeing your parents, your siblings, and your day-one friends everyday like you used to at home, but don’t underestimate how much you’ll miss the comfort of home you didn’t even realize you took for granted: your dogs (if you’re not a dog person, replace this with your pet of choice). You probably didn’t realize how happy just seeing a dog could make you until you came to school and felt a strange, inexplicable absence day-to-day - the lack of dogs in your life. The “dog effect” is evidenced whenever a college student is within a 20-foot radius of any dog on campus, and will drop anything and everything to pet that smiley, joyful ball of fur. At home, your dogs were a constant source of love and comfort, especially after a bad day when people just weren’t cutting it. At school, other people’s dogs will have to do until you’re reunited with your own again.