As college students, when we first leave our hometowns we are forced to make adjustments to life away from home. It feels really weird at first to be on your own without the comfort of your house and your parents. You no longer have your siblings, your friends you've known since first grade, your bedroom, your neighborhood, or the comfort of familiar faces and places everywhere you go. You are thrown into a world of unfamiliarity and you finally get your first taste of independence, which can be pretty scary.

But eventually, you begin to get the hang of life in your college town. As the semesters pass, you begin to make more friends and get more involved on campus. You start to love sleeping in your dorm room bed and you get used to living off diner food for every meal. You grow fond of the late night pizza place you go to every weekend after going out, and you becoming a regular at the local restaurants and coffee shops. You start to feel at home in your college town.

Then when summertime rolls around you return to the place you once knew and loved very much, your hometown. At first, you're happy to see your family and old friends and get a few home cooked meals and nights in your old bed. But after a few weeks, you start to realize that you no longer have a place in this town you once called home. You no longer know the students and teachers that fill the halls of your middle school and high school, and half the friends you once had here couldn't make it home for the summer. And as you get older and the semesters continue, you become more and more attached to your college and less attached to the town you grew up in. You realize that this place that used to be your safe haven is now somewhat unfamiliar to you.

Although it's sad to feel like your hometown isn't home anymore, you should feel pride in the fact that you've found a new home away from your past life. We all have to move on from the comfort and ease of living with our family in a small town, and making a life for yourself at college is the first step to truly growing up. You'll never forget the memories you made in your hometown, but you're making new and exciting memories everyday living the best years of your life at college. So don't worry, you'll always have your hometown to look back on, but don't be afraid to let go of your childhood and accept your life in your new home at college.