As much as we hate leaving all of our college friends, I think we're just a little bit excited to get home and see family, best friends, pets, and most importantly, our beds. There are some things you just can't get at college that you can get at home. Then again, after a certain amount of time I think we're all dying to get back to school.
There's always a pattern that I follow when I come home. I get really excited and go to my favorite old hangout spots with my high school besties, then we reminisce over all of our old memories and how we used to be little badasses. We'll probably comment how we "peaked in high school" or say something like, "Damn, in high school we had the best time. We were the sh*t as seniors." We'll pull up throwback pictures on our phones and laugh about how we thought we were so cool. It's all pretty melodramatic.
After we're finished comparing all of our different versions of our high school memories, we compare our different college experiences. It's really hard to relate to one another because each college is so different. As time goes by, I fear that we will just run out of things to talk about, or that we won't have much in common anymore. The truth is, your friend group at home changes tremendously in college. The acquaintances you used to have are pretty irrelevant now, except seeing them occasionally at a party. Friendships are solely dependent on the time and effort you're willing to devote to one another when you're home on breaks or away at school. Most of the friends who were featured in the pictures I hung up in my dorm in the beginning of freshman year aren't even close friends anymore. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love seeing all of my friends from home, but at the same time, coming home just isn't what I'm used to anymore. It feels like I'm living a double life between college and home, and my hometown life feels like a lifetime ago.
Aside from the catching up with the old friends situation, you want to get your drink on. Weekends come and go, and there's really not much to do. The friends who used to have house parties are now all 21 and frequent the bars. You're too young to go to the bar, so you just stay home with the comfort of Netflix, your dog, and dream of what you would be doing at your school on a Friday night. At college, you had plans every night of the weekend with ease. It's probably a good thing to get a detox/cleanse when you go home, but still, it's boring.
The one thing that is undeniably the best part about going home is the food. Your parents make all of your favorite meals, and dinner selections are usually your choice because your parents are thrilled to have you home. It's time to order all of the food you dreamed about while you were away at school. You go to all of your favorite restaurants, get your favorite hangover breakfast, and you feel pretty disgusting from the greasy, delicious, almost regrettable food you just ate.
All in all, time after time you go home and feel a little bit different. Maybe we're all just getting older and more mature. After you don't live at home for a while, you come home and are confused about whether or not you have to ask your parents to leave the house or what time you should be home. There are unclear boundaries.
I will always love my hometown. I have created some of the best memories of my life here, but at what point do I move on to the next chapter?
