When you first arrive at school in August you don't see how this little jail cell could ever turn into a home. All of the upperclassmen will tell you that they never want to leave and that this is their home now, not the town they grew up in. I thought this was the biggest lie I had ever been told, no way will I ever be able to call this place home.
Well, I was wrong. Things begin to change around winter break. It's sad to sit on your bed and see more than half of your stuff packed away in a big moving bin. Not only are your clothes packed but your pillows and maybe a favorite blanket. Then you have to clean out your fridge and shut it off, that's kind of sad too. But, the worst of it all is thinking about the amazing people your'e leaving when you go home. By now you've made a few close friends and odds are they live on the opposite side of the state from you or farther. There's no late night hangouts or going to get dinner and winding up sitting there for hours just talking. You'll even miss the people in your hallway. You know, the people who kept you up late the night before an exam or the ones that take long showers when you're running late for class and just need to get in there. Yeah, they grow on you. They become like you're family. They drive you crazy but your life would be pretty boring without them. You've also come to realize that it's comforting to see a familiar face when you're navigating through campus that first week.
After you get back from winter break it feels normal again, you get back into the swing of things after a couple days. When you get back to school it feels comfortable, you have all of your things with you again. I mean you weren't going to bring home your posters and decorations just for a month so your room at home felt pretty bare. Walking into your fully decorated room brings a sense of home. Finally seeing your friends (that have by now become family) is a great feeling. You feel like you are reunited with your other half (or halves).
So, once you got that month at home out of your system, it isn't too hard to stay at school until spring break. You grow closer to your hall mates and have heart to hearts while laying in the hall for hours at a time. The next thing you know you're referring to your dorm as home, it's where you go when you need to feel comfortable. Your weird plastic mattress becomes "your" bed. When you're sick, this is where you will long to be, not in your bed at home.
I can only imagine what it's going to be like to go home for my first summer break. It'll be bittersweet to leave my hall and my little jail cell behind, but next year brings bigger and better things.
Good luck to all of those high school seniors that are looking forward to college in the fall. Remember that the first two weeks are the hardest and your college campus WILL become like home if you let it.
