Spending a vast majority of your time in a dorm room means you miss out on a lot. When you're in the moment, you don't usually think about these things. It's when you come home for the summer you realize how much you miss the small luxuries such as nice toilet paper and not having to pick up other people's hair in the shower. Three months away from school itself is a luxury, but nothing quite beats these 12 things about being home.

1. Food that isn't from a cafeteria

At my house, I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to home cooked meals, and I don't think I'll start too big of an argument when I say that cafeteria food just doesn't cut it a lot of the time. There's nothing better than homemade breakfast.

2. You don't get family at school

Especially when you're an out-of-state student. I have my weekly Skype sessions with my mom and dad but that doesn't quite cut it. I get to see them for a week or so every three months, which makes summer especially sweet.

3. You definitely don't get pets at school

If you've ever had the pleasure of being in the same room as me when one of my parents sends me a picture of my cat, you've heard me squeal over how cute he is. My cat doesn't particularly enjoy being picked up, which makes asking to see him over Skype particularly difficult. He'll only hold still for so long. That's why being home is great; it makes it harder for him to run away from me.

4. A room to yourself is kind of the best thing in the world

As the world's biggest introvert, I need my alone time otherwise I get cranky. The majority of those who stay in dorms don't have rooms to themselves and it can be tiring to be around people all the time. That's why coming home to your own room where you can shut your door and do whatever you want for however long you want is the most satisfying thing. For example, I, being the most exciting person on the planet, sit in my room and drink iced coffee.

5. Using dishes that are truly clean

Washing dishes in a dorm is a hassle. My roommate and I usually resorted to just wiping down silverware with clorox wipes and hoping for the best. When you're making Easy Mac, you don't really want to go all out because odds are you're starving and don't have a whole lot of time to make sure your fork is perfectly clean.

6. Finally getting to spend time with friends from home

Meeting up with friends during the rest of the year is so difficult. Breaks never seem to line up, and if they do, everyone's trying to fit as much in as possible. Summer makes it a little easier to meet up with friends you haven't seen in a while and hear about what life is like at different schools.

7. No shower shoes

I don't think this needs much of an explanation

8. Having the time to do things you actually want to do

Summer means (for the most part) no homework. That means there's time to actually breathe in a day! So far this summer I've finished two books for leisure, which is probably more leisure reading than I'd done throughout the entire school year

9. Making your own schedule

While this kind of ties in with number 8, it's nice to map out your day in a way that you want to. If that means completely screwing up your sleep schedule and staying up too late watching movies, at least you're doing it when you don't have class (even if some of us are guilty of doing that during the school year too).

10. Sleeping in

There's nothing worse than late night cravings of things that are way too far away to have at that moment.

12. Taking advantage of being home because you know you'll have to go back eventually

In a few weeks we'll all be bored and wishing we had things to do. We'll want to get back into a routine because we can only watch the same Netflix series so many times. In the meantime, though, it's nice to enjoy time in our house, with our friends, with our family and our pets. All of it's worth getting the most out of.