You did it. You survived another semester in college. You conquered finals, probably pulled an all-nighter or two to finish projects and study for tests, packed all your belongings into boxes, and returned home. Your mind is a whirlwind of the past four months, and now you’re static. What do you do now that there are no more classes, no more tests, no more late-night dorm parties or food runs with your roommates?

There're dozens of articles out there about what to do when you return home from traveling abroad, and how to cope with reverse culture shock. But I argue that the biggest changes can be experienced by just coming home on a two-hour flight from college. It doesn’t matter if it’s for winter or summer break, or if you’re a freshman or a junior. There’s always something different to experience when you go home.

First off, not everything changes. There're old traditions to look forward to. Your brothers immediately want to race you at Mario Kart. Your grandma’s craft store runs when you’re at her house. You all get to sit around the table with home-cooked meals. That’s the great part of home; the familiar comforts and routines that definitely have not changed since you left.

What changes, however, is you. Whether you agree with me or not, being independent for the first time in your life influences you. That anthropology class, that friend group, that club retreat, everything you experienced impacted you in a way that you don't yet understand, and neither can anyone living thousands of miles away. You start noticing the little things that change. The interactions with your mom about your ‘utterly ridiculously soft cheeks’ are not as funny as you remember before, and the dad jokes are just… terrible.

My issue with college is the fact that you’re forced to make a new family with at least a couple hundred people your age. And yes, while they all share the same college as you and they too are away from home and living independently, you’re not even sure you want to be with these people. But against all odds, you are. And you make fast and close friends with a couple of them if you’re lucky. The year goes by, and you’re around people who understand your experience, who live in very close quarters with you, who have seen you at your highest and lowest points for a semester. Then you’re quickly and swiftly uprooted back home within a couple of days. The feeling is strange, as if the rug was pulled from under your feet, and you fell back into your own room at home.

I definitely do not have the same interactions with my parents that I used to, and I never see anyone from my high school anymore. I would like to believe that it's because I know I am a different person. I've grown differently in the past three years in college. Whether it's for better or for worse, I do not know. I treat home as my resting place, to process the hectic and stressful semesters I go through in order to reach the goal that is college graduation.

The breaks in between for winter and summer are my times to think and reflect. I often look back at how much I have really grown as a person; not only in what I like and how my friends are but my beliefs, my social interactions, my entire life and reason for being. It's a hefty process, but necessary. I find that even though I'm not with the people who better understand my experience, I'm able to speak freely, and really accurately explain and decompress my semester to someone I've known my whole life. In the end, I'm with people who always support me, who I can always lean onto, and who welcome me back with open arms.

The best part of being home is being comfortable, and man did I miss the comforts of reading for fun and bubble baths.