When you think about the summer, you usually think of three months with little to no academic obligations. Sure, you have a job or two, and you're trying to save money so you don't have to live on ramen, but other than that the summer is pretty fun.

If you're an incoming freshman, it's your final chapter with your hometown friends before college starts. If you're home for the summer from college, it's your prime time to hangout with your hometown friends that you've been missing so much!

As summer comes to an end, and everyone starts to say their goodbyes, things tend to get a little emotional. It's not easy saying goodbye to the kids that you've literally grown up with. Some of us will stay local and some of us will go out of state, but regardless, we all have to part our ways.

There are so many reasons that I'm grateful for my hometown friends.

Thank you all for always keeping my weekends back in my hometown fun. We always have an amazing time, take the funniest pictures, and make the best memories. Bonfires, concerts, barn parties, random hikes, mini golfing, swimming and so much more are all included in the list of random stuff we did to keep ourselves entertained this summer. Thanks for always being down to have a good time, and for making so many memories with me this summer.

Thank you for always keeping the group-chat alive — because without it, we'd never be able to stay updated on each other's lives this summer. Nothing could happen in hometown without it making an appearance in the group-chat. Drama? Concert Dates? Drunk Texts? (sorry mom). You name it, it was discussed in the group chat. Whether we're spilling stories about college or reminiscing on the "Good 'ole Days," we always have something to talk about. If there's one thing for sure, without my "HOEmies" group-chat, my phone would be pretty dry this summer.

Thanks for actually staying in touch with me while we're all away at school and for staying my friend. When everybody heads off to college, they usually promise to stay in touch with their friends from high school and sometimes that doesn't usually work out the way people imagine it will. College is stressful, people get busy, and life goes on. Most people don't stay friends with a majority of their friend group from high school, but we did. We are all still close, and even a little bit closer, than we were in high school.

Thanks for being my people. Growing up in Geneseo wouldn't have been the same without you guys. I'm beyond thankful to have you all in my life.

Summer's over, but that just means we have more time to plan what crazy still we'll get ourselves into next summer.