And we back and we back. Just kidding, this isn't Chance the Rapper. But being back in your hometown for longer than 2 weeks after experiencing life in a completely new environment for about roughly eight months; there is nothing like it. You return to the same hustle and bustle of your hometown and reconnect with the people you grew up with and the people who raised you. Your hometown feels the same as you left it, but different.
There is a new amount of loneliness in your hometown. It was nice at first to come back to the comfort of my family and my bed. Yet the first two weeks drove me almost crazy.
See, in college, I was constantly surrounded by my group of friends basically twenty-four hours a day and to come home and be alone for at least eight hours a day while your friends and family are at work or school was a HUGE change for me. I became so used to having the comfort of at least one other person always with me even if we were just in the same room. This sounds lonely, but it felt like I was counting down the minutes until my family came home, and I was constantly looking to find things to do.
The amount of free time that suddenly came into my life was an overbearing amount after eight months of school. The hometown you once felt surrounded in by fellow peers becomes lonely for some time. But you get used to it; you adapt and adjust and get back to working or doing whatever occupies your time. You begin to appreciate the time spent alone giving you time to work on yourself and your own goals without schoolwork in the way.
There is a newfound love for the places and people in your town. Nothing in my hometown really changes for the most part. Maybe a few restaurants are added, a few stores shut down. Overall, nothing really dramatic changes within the landscape of your town. But the places you used to visit on the daily, for me, Dunkin or Wawa, become more appreciated than ever.
I missed my iced coffee and gas station convenience store a lot more than I thought I would. I missed driving my little car on route 9 and on route 516 amongst the road rage of New Jersey drivers. Call me crazy, but I missed New Jersey's road rage. I missed the ability to go to the nearest beach about a half hour away and be able to go to New York City within less than an hour if I pleased. I gained a newfound appreciation for the location of my hometown and the people, places, and things I missed in it.
Really nothing changes about your town, besides you. You change. You experience new people, situations, and ideas in your first year of college. These new experiences change you, whether you know it or not. You live, survive, and appreciate your life in the hometown that raised and shaped you.
